Love Without Words
by Zilver Wings
Summary: She was the ice princess who was mute. When her family hired a tutor to teach her sign language, they never expected love to blossom. But a princess and a commoner would never work together. However,time flies and Syaoran proves to be no ordinary peasant.
1. Prologue

Love without Words

By Zilver Wings

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Summary: She was the ice princess who was mute. When her family hired a tutor to teach her sign language, they never expected love to blossom. But a princess and a commoner would never work together. However, things change and Syaoran proves not to be an ordinary peasant.

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Chapter 1

Prologue

"How is she?"

"The disease is under control, but…"

"Stop stuttering and answer us!"

The king of the Kinomoto kingdom tried to hold back his son, Touya, from strangling the old doctor, who inched away from them slowly, his eyes showing fear.

"Yes, please tell me about Sakura's situation. Whatever happens, it's not your fault."

Fujitaka's soft voice soothed the old man, and he took a deep breath.

"Although she suffered from a very high fever, we were able to lower it. Her life will not be at risk anymore."

Both of the men sighed in relief, but when they saw the anxious expression on the doctor's face, they grew tense.

"However, since it took some time before we could lower her temperature, we suspect that some damage was caused to her brain, although we are not certain about that."

Fujitaka's usually calm exterior changed and he waited impatiently for the man to continue.

"I'm afraid that she has become… mute, I'm sorry."

"No!"

Touya freed from his father's grasp and rushed into his beloved little sister's room, his eyes brimming with tears.

---

A 15-year old girl sat on side of her bed, staring outside the large window from her large pink room in the Kinomoto palace.

The window gave her reflection.

The girl was thin and looked sick. Shoulder-length honey brown hair framed her smooth and pale, oval-shaped face, with a few strands sticking out at the top was being left untamed.

Striking emerald eyes looked icily at the world around her, making a big contrast to her pale complexion. Her lips were glossy pink, but were shut tightly at all times, since she hadn't been using her voice for a long time.

She wore a long pink gown with strings of cherry blossom patterns being sown on it, showing some of her curves. However, even the cheerful attire of the dress couldn't brighten up the sorrow in the room.

It has already been four years, she thought.

Four years ago, she caught a cold. It started it out to be merely a small sickness, with slight coughing and a sore throat. The doctors gave her medicine and assured that she was going to be fine soon.

However, during that night, a fever broke out. It shot up quickly, and her life was endangered. Although the doctors tried to help her, the damage was done to her brain. She became mute at the age of 11.

It was not the only thing that changed in her life. The life she once saw as colorful and bright turned to black and white.

Sighing in her mind, she put on her white fluffy slippers and slowly walked down the stairs to the dining room.

"Ohayo, Sakura."

Her father smiled warmly at her before returning his gaze to the scrolls the people had sent him about the matters involving Japan while sipping on his milk.

Sakura nodded her head in response and sat down, looking at her breakfast. Sushi, they used to be her favorites, but ever since the incident, she lost her interest in everything, except drawing, which she found was a great way to express her emotions. She glanced at her food again. What was the use of having a mouth if you couldn't do anything with it but eat?

But knowing that her father was looking at the corner out of his eyes since he had made it. She knew that her father was a very busy man, even a minute was very rare to him. Touched by his consideration, Sakura forced the two sushi into her mouth, which she swallowed with great difficulty, and left the room crisply.

Fujitaka put down his fork and sighed, looking at the empty plate.

How he missed the sweet voice of his daughter, and that cheerful aura always surrounding her. Her presence would brighten anyone's day. Yet, she was so fragile. The incident put a permanent scar in her soul, making her unable to stand up again after she fell.

'But no matter what, I'll try my best to make the old Sakura return.'

He thought to himself with fierce determination, thinking of his passed away wife.

'Nadeshiko, please always guard her, wherever you are.'

Ever since Touya had reached adulthood and left Sakura to marry a princess in another country, no one really understood her anymore.

The secret of her being mute never leaked out of the kingdom. Prince from various countries who ever saw her face all immediately proposed to her, but she refused every single one with a shake of her head, which earned her the name 'Ice Princess' by her cold exterior and constant refusal to the proposals.

She knew that they were shallow men who had fallen for the false nature of love. They only judged a woman by her outer appearance. She had always been waiting for her prince charming, one that would see beyond her beauty. But, she thought bitterly, with her handicap, who would really want her anymore once they knew about it? Dreams were sweet, but once you wake up, you will realize that they are nothing but aching illusions.

She managed to push away all of her childhood friends, scared to think how they would react after they found out about her secret. She used to miss them dearly, but as time passed by, her once passionate heart grew cold.

Then, she heard a soft knock at the door and in came a timid servant girl.

"Kinomoto-sama, the..the king wants you…to..uh… go into his room now. He has something to tell you."

With that, she quickly left the room, shivering, remembering the princess' piercing gaze.

Sakura put down her pencil and abandoned her sketch of an angel statue her mother gave her when she was very young.

"_Sakura, one day, your prince charming will come, and guard you like an angel."_

"_But, okaa-san, what if he never comes?"_

"_He'll come someday." Nadeshiko produced a marble angel statue with a faraway expression on his face and put it in her daughter's eager palm._

"_My okaa-san gave me this when I was about your age. Now that I've found my angel, I'm going to pass this to you, take good care of it."_

"_But my angel hasn't come yet."_

"_In that case, I'll be your guardian angel, forever and forever, even after your angel has come."_

"_What if you die?"_

"_I'll still be there, looking out for you, not letting anything happen to you."_

Sakura's eyes softened at the fond memory of her mother. Ever since she lost her voice.

When Sakura entered Fujitaka's study room, she saw that there was something going on. Although otou-san always had a smile on his face, today, the smile seemed bigger and happier.

"Sakura, I've found you a tutor from China. He's about the same age as you. He has an uncle who is a great teacher that teaches sign languages. However, when we requested for him to come, he rejected the offer since he was busy, and instead, send his nephew, who seems to have inherited all the skills. Sakura, it's time to break out of your shell, please let me help you."

Seeing her otou-san's sad and pleading eyes, she reluctantly nodded her head, although she didn't want anybody to interfere with her life.

Fujitaka's eyes brightened and he commanded loudly.

"Come in, Syaoran."

A teenage boy entered and bowed low to both of the royalties.

When he stood straight again, Sakura got a clear view of him.

He had unruly chestnut hair, intense brown eyes, and a very serious expression. He was tall and lean, judging by his nicely tanned skin, it was obvious that he did a lot of exercise. She dared say that if he was to walk on the busy streets of Tomoeda any day, the place where the Kinomoto palace was situated in, all the girls would be following him everywhere. He was handsome, she decided, but that didn't mean she was going to be easy on him. Many princes were also good looking, but in the end, they turned out to be nothing but shallow creatures. She had learnt that looks could be deceiving a long time ago.

On the other hand, Syaoran was astonished by her beauty. He had seen many pretty girls in the past that had willingly thrown upon him, but he had never met anyone who could compete against Sakura, she was absolutely breathtaking. But then again, he was trained to hide his emotions and keep his hormones well under control ever since he was small for he was assigned a very important job since the day he was born.

He stuck out his hand and smiled at her.

"How are you doing, Miss Kinomoto?"

He heard no reply.

'No wonder people call her the Ice Princess.'

Then, realization dawned him, and he mentally slapped his forehead. He had forgotten his mission.

"Uhh… I mean, nice to meet you."

Feeling her otou-san's anxious look, Sakura bit her lower lip and extended out her own hand to shake his in hesitation.

"Well, I hope you two will get acquainted, since he will be staying with us from now on. You two are dismissed."

With a slight wave of his hand, the two left, their eyes breaking contact.

'Why do I feel so strange inside?'

Both of them thought.

To be continued…

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Hello everyone, another one of my new creation, I'll see how this goes. I've been doing some research for the human body when suddenly a site popped up from nowhere that was about muteness. I clicked in, blah blah, and the plot sort of just begin to form in my mind. Since I already have a lot of modern time fanfics, I decided to have a medieval one, don't hit my head with a saucepan if many of the details are wrong, after all, I've just studied the Renaissance period, French Revolution and the World Wars in my History class.

Please R&R and support me, or I will not continue, just kidding, but still… it would really affect the updating of my story, Ja ne!


	2. Guardian Angel

Love without Words

By Zilver Wings

Summary: She was the ice princess who was mute. When her family hired a tutor to teach her sign language, they never expected love to blossom. But a princess and a commoner would never work together. However, things change and Syaoran proves not to be an ordinary peasant.

Chapter 2

Guardian Angel

As one of the young maids lead Syaoran to his room, blushing furiously at his handsome features, he let his eyes wander through the painted Kinomoto family pictures hanging on the golden wall.

'That Kinomoto girl look so happy and carefree in these pictures, yet, when I saw her earlier, there seems to be a veil of mournfulness covering her. Her handicap must have been a great attack to her. Oh well, there's no need for me to get so involved with her life. After all, teaching her sign languages is only an excuse to escape from all those clingy princesses okaa-sama keep on throwing at me. I'm so glad uncle Tereda-san was willing to help me find this job. Now all I have to do is to be careful not to let people find out about my identity in case they misinterpret my intentions.'

Unbeknownst by him, things weren't going to be as simple as he thought it would be.

The maid opened the room door wide open and Syaoran entered, smiling broadly.

The room was huge and royal, around the same size as his at home. The wallpaper and carpet were in a dark shade of green, his favorite color, with golden trimmings. There was long wooden desk, several empty bookshelves, a comfy looking bed, a closet and a linked toilet.

The design was simple, but he loved the balcony and how large the windows were, it gave him a great view of the palace's garden and could also see the balcony and part of the room opposite him, which pink curtains were lowered, not giving him permission to see what was inside.

The maid, anxious to please the tutor, saw his curious expression directed to the room opposite him, quickly explained to him.

"Li-san, the princess Kinomoto Sakura lives there. Since you are to be always with her, the king has let you live in this room, which used to be the prince Kinomoto Touya's bedroom."

No wonder it was so large, Syaoran thought.

Interested about Sakura's past, Syaoran asked the maid.

"Can you tell me something about your young mistress?"

Glad to have an excuse to linger longer around the boy, the maiden walked towards the balcony next to him and looked at the sky with a faraway expression, as if trying her best to trace back the forgotten memories.

"Let me see. Princess Sakura was one of the most spirited and happy people I have ever met. She was compassionate and fun to be with, and treated everybody equally and kindly. She even asked me, merely a maid of low status, to be friends with her, and often gave me candies and shared her toys with me. Unfortuntately, fours years ago, a sickness shattered all of her innocence."

Her eyes saddened as she thought of the difference of the current and old Sakura she knew.

"The doctor came to see her and said it was just a small cold, and gave her some medicine, assuring her that she would be fine in no time. That night, Princess Sakura sudden had a very high fever. The doctors were able to save her, but she became mute. It was believed that the fever had caused some damage to her brain. After she knew of her handicap, she began to lock herself away from everyone, even her own family. The only person that fully understood her was her mother, Queen Nadeshiko, but she passed away a long time ago. No one is able to help her," there, she whipped her head to Syaoran and looked hopefully at him, "please, help her. We all love her too much, it hurts every one of us to see her in such grief and pain."

Syaoran was shocked. Even a maid cared so much about Sakura, she must have been very kind, unlike all of those snobbish princesses he knew of.

He wanted to cheer the maiden up, but he could not lie.

"I'll try my best, but it's up to herself to decide whether she wants to overcome her handicap or not."

The girl faltered a bit, but she still managed to smile weakly at him.

"Arigatou. I need to leave, I still have a lot of work to do. Enjoy your stay here, Li-sama."

She gave a deep bow and left, leaving Syaoran in his own world.

It seemed like there was more to do than to teach the girl sign languages. He loved challenges.

"Now, I will ask you some questions and you can just nod or shake your head, okay?"

Sakura looked away.

"Okay, I will take that as a yes. You don't actually want to learn sign language, right?"

No response.

"Did you join because of your otou-san?"

No response

"Are you listening to me at all?"

No reaction.

Syaoran sighed and stood up, advancing to the princess slowly. The first thing his uncle taught him was to befriend with his students, but it seemed as if this one was a little more mule- headed than the others.

"You know, Princess Sakura, I am good at reading people's minds and I know what is going on in that little pretty head of yours." He crouched down in front of Sakura's chair and tilted her chin so she was facing him. Her eyes widened at the gesture. Never in her life had anybody but her family members dare touch her.

Yet, when she saw Syaoran's amber pools, she felt fear. She didn't know why, after all, she was the princess and he was only a commoner, but why was there a certain royal aura around him? He looked grim, and inched his face closer to hers until they were only a few centimeters apart. Her breath was caught in her throat, and yet, she still couldn't tear her eyes from those pools.

She could feel Syaoran's hot breath on her neck as he spoke.

"If you think you can get rid of me by ignoring me, you're wrong, princess, you're very wrong, so don't even try the strategy on me, it would never work."

He squinted his eyes at hers before letting go of her face and walking back to his seat in the living room. He swore he saw a flicker of fear in those emerald eyes before, but they were gone now, replaced by her usual emotionless ones.

He wasn't about to give up though. In fact, the words 'give up' had never been in his vocabulary list, and never will be.

"Do you miss your mother?"

The words escaped from his mouth before he could process it in his brain, and he regret it immediately as he saw her darken.

Her mother promised her that she would always be her guardian angel no matter what happens, and yet, she let her daughter become mute. Her mother lied to her, she was no longer beside her to protect her anymore, she lied to her… (AN: Doesn't this paragraph sounds a little like this one: Little lotte thought of everything and nothing…. Her father promised to send her the angel of music, her father promised her. –The phantom of the opera.)

Suddenly, without a warning, Sakura stood up and left the room, going upstairs to her own bedroom.

Bewildered, Syaoran quickly got up as well and followed her up to her room with no protest from her.

She sat on her desk, flip open her sketchbook and began to draw.

So she was going to ignore him again, but that won't work.

As he neared her, he saw that she was drawing a small angel statue. She had great talent he realized, and yet, there seemed to be something wrong with her painting.

No one knew, but he was quite a drawing fanatic himself, it gave him a peace of mind and could also learn to appreciate the beauty around him. Soon, he realized the problem with Sakura's drawing.

"Your drawing is all wrong."

Hearing his statement, Sakura stopped and her body went stiff. Wrong? She had been drawing for four years, and got nothing but praises on her work even by famous artists, and yet, some teenage boy which she didn't even knew how to draw had told her that her drawing was wrong? What was wrong with _him_?

Seeing her body froze, he figured he had caught her attention, so he grasped the opportunity to continue.

"It's too dark. Do you see the sunshine reflecting off the statue's left side, especially the face? Yet, in your drawing, we can still clearly see its face, and your shading is a few times darker than what it should be. It's really strange, for a person with such good technique to not see the shadows clearly."

He suddenly took the sketchbook from her and began flipping through her artwork. Sakura tried frantically to get it back, but he was too tall.

"Hmmm, yes, I'm right, your paintings are all too dark, have you not learn about shading at all? It's important for a sketch to look realistic, yours look as if you've drawn them in a dungeon."

By now, Sakura was fuming, which was very rare. That nerve of the man, he was nothing but a tutor, why was he invading her personal space?

She snatched the book when he handed it to her, and to her amazement, he left.

She sighed in relief, but widened her eyes when she heard his cheerful last words.

"Tomorrow, I'll come and sketch with you during our lesson."

She stared after him in astonishment. She seriously wondered if he was insane or not, how could he not feel the least discouraged after how she's been treating him?

Another strange thing was, he never showed any fear around her or her father. If he was to be a peasant, shouldn't he feel a bit scared or be curious about the luxurious things in the palace? Yet he acted so natural. If one didn't know, they would easily have mistaken him to be a prince of the Kinomoto kingdom.

'Hmph, who is he to tell me what to do? I don't have to listen to him.'

The maid Syaoran had talked to earlier went into Sakura's room to give her some biscuits and tea when she saw the fiery in Sakura's normally emotionless eyes. Her heart swirled with happiness. Li- san had only lived in the palace for two days, and had already made such a big progress!

Syaoran pushed open the glass doors leading to the balcony.

A gentle breeze greeted him, and he smiled softly at the dim glow of the stars while leaning on the fence. It had been a long time since he had last felt as relaxed as tonight. His grin widened as he recalled the earlier look on Sakura's face after he had said the last words. She didn't know it, but he was glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, and her horrified expression was absolute priceless.

Just then, a figure walked out of the room a few yards away from his as well, gazing at the stars. It was Sakura. He let his eyes trail downwards as he admired her silently. Her usually pinned up smooth auburn hair was let down, cascaded down her back, ending when it reached her waist. She wore a white night gown, which hugged her curves nicely, showing off some of her slender legs, and was barefooted.

Her emerald eyes reflected the moonlight, making it become even brighter. Her calm pale face tinted with a small blush, and her lips were a luscious red. Her ethereal beauty was too much for him, and he inched slowly to her.

Sakura saw something move, and turned her head to see no other than Syaoran, who was staring at her, lost.

Her angelic face turned to sheer horror. She felt so naked, even though she was wearing her gown. She whipped her body backwards and walked inside quickly, slamming the door with full force.

How could otou-san put him there, it was onii-chan's room!

She hated the boy. First, he intruded into her life, then he criticized her sketch, and now, he was even taking away her other interest, star gazing.

Why did life hate her so much? Would she ever find her guardian angel?

In fact, she had already found her guardian angel, who was closer than she would ever dream of, it would only be a matter of time for her to realize who it is.

To be continued…

Okay, end of another chapter. I'm really flattered about the number of reviews I got for the first chapter, Thank you very much!

Angel-in-the-Shadow- Errr… (Sweatdrops about the big freak thing) I think you should start reading my story, you know, 'absence makes the heart fonder', although I'm quite sure you'd start losing interest in it after reading my lousy story.

Firnoviel- I'm a history buff too! Yup, muteness can be caused by damage of the vocal chords, but I have an auntie who became mute after she got a high fever when she was very young, and became mute, although she could speak after some treatment the doctors gave to her, but there's still some permanent damage to her brain. Anyway, this is just a fanfiction, don't take it seriously, I'm only 15, and not planning to study medical anyway, I love History and Eng Lit. too much! In Biology, I'm still learning about the stupid enzymes. Odd flow? I don't really see anything wrong with it, sorry, but thanks for pointing it out.

Zilver Wings (Uh, my cousin kinda logged into my account and typed some review)- Make her blind? That's kind of typical, there are already a lot of stories out there about blindness. I wish she would speak one day too, if you read the first chapter carefully, you'll realize something, maybe there are some possibilities. (winks)

If you have any other problems, please review me and I'll try to answer you, please continue to support me! (bows low until head touches floor after years of training gymnastics.)

Sneak Peek-

Too absorbed in her sketch, Sakura failed to notice a shadow tower from behind her until it was too late.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing out here all alone? I will be able to teacher you to learn to enjoy the happiness of human flesh."

A pair of arms snaked around her waist and crashed her body against a furry robe of red. Sakura looked up to see a handsome boy with long silver hair and matching eyes grinning maliciously at her. She yanked herself away but he was too strong for her.

"I'm the prince of the Yoshiwa Kingdom, follow me and I'll give you riches and jewelry."

Ignoring her struggles, he began to unbutton her white cotton coat which was over her pink summer dress forcefully.

Sakura gave up and closed her eyes, until she felt his arms suddenly loosened and slid past her body harmlessly as he stumbled forward and hit the ground hard.

Sakura fluttered open her eyelids to see a pair of fiery chestnut orbs.

"Can't you bastard see that she doesn't want you? Scram before I change my mind and decide to beat the crap out of you."

His mouth was in a tight thin line, and his face was red, trying to control his anger. Her eyes traveled downwards and saw a canvas and a few brushes being thrown carelessly on the ground.

End of Sneak Peek


	3. Damsel in Distress

Love without Words

By Zilver Wings

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Summary: She was the ice princess who was mute. When her family hired a tutor to teach her sign language, they never expected love to blossom. But a princess and a commoner would never work together. However, things change and Syaoran proves not to be an ordinary peasant.

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Chapter 3

Damsel in Distress

She wandered in the woods, her emerald eyes darting around warily. Good, he didn't know about her secret hideout place. She was in the forest a few leagues from the palace, drawing. Now, he would not be able to pester her anymore, she thought triumphantly. However, the peace didn't last long.

Too absorbed in her sketch, Sakura failed to hear the heavy footsteps and notice a shadow tower from behind her until it was too late.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing out here all alone? I will be able to teach you to learn to enjoy the happiness of human flesh."

A pair of arms snaked around her waist and crashed her body against a furry robe of red. Sakura looked up to see a handsome boy with long silver hair and matching eyes grinning maliciously at her. She yanked herself away but he was too strong for her.

"I'm the prince of the Yoshiwa Kingdom, follow me and I'll give you riches and jewelry."

Ignoring her struggles, he began to unbutton her white cotton coat which was over her pink summer dress forcefully.

Sakura gave up and closed her eyes, until she felt his arms suddenly loosened and slid past her body harmlessly as he stumbled forward and hit the ground hard.

Sakura fluttered open her eyelids to see a pair of fiery chestnut orbs.

"Can't you bastard see that she doesn't want you? Scram before I change my mind and decide to beat the crap out of you."

His mouth was in a tight thin line, and his face was red, trying to control his anger. Her eyes traveled downwards and saw a canvas and a few brushes being thrown carelessly on the ground

The boy saw his furry and immediately scrambled away. He tripped over the root of a hundred year old tree and fell into the mud. But he quickly got up and ran again. Soon after, his figure faded until it disappeared.

"Why'd you just go here all alone? It is very dangerous for such a pretty girl like you. What'd you do if I didn't save you in time, huh? You'd be raped for gosh's sake!"

Sakura turned around and was met with fiery amber eyes. It was Syaoran, her savior, she thought in dismay.

He was wearing his Chinese green everyday robe, with a dragon delicately sown on it in golden thread.

"Why didn't you scream for help? Someone would have"

Then, he remembered and hit his head against a nearby tree.

"Gomenasai, princess."

He couldn't see her expression since her bangs covered half of her face as she hung her head low.

He grew uneasy at the silence surrounding them. Just then, he saw something sparkly glide down her smooth pale cheek, leaving a trail behind. He cursed to himself inwardly as he closed the distance between them.

Not knowing what to do, he put his right thumb under her chin and tilted her face upwards for the second time since his arrival. But unlike last time, his gaze was soft and gentle, while hers were full of sorrow and pain.

He slowly wiped away the tears on her face and embraced her shivering body slowly. Instantly, he felt her become stiff, but gradually, her shivering ceased and she rested her head on his chest uncertainly. She felt a bump on his collar and looked closer. It was a necklace with a small gold plate which had two Chinese words she couldn't identify.

He put his head into her soft silky hair and whispered, sending chills down her spine.

"Gomenasai, please forgive me."

He felt a muffled nod and he smiled genuinely.

He untangled his arms from her back and looked down at her.

"Do you want to sketch anymore?"

Sakura shook her head furiously, and began to pack her belongings when Syaoran stopped her.

"Let's leave these here and we'll continue tomorrow okay? I doubt anyone will be lucky enough to find this place."

As if answering to her mind, he continued.

"I knew you were going to avoid me, so I asked the King to tell me your usual hideout."

He saw her discomfort, so he stopped. He gave her back a little nudge.

The two were lost in their own thoughts.

'Why do I care about her so much? I've never paid any attention to any girl before, let alone comfort them. But she treats me so differently from the others of her sex. She is probably the first girl who has not fallen for me as soon she set her eyes on me.'

He smirked as he thought of the numerous times he managed to play pranks on those clingy rich snobs with his family finding out.

Sakura was just as confused as him.

'Why didn't I get mad when he hugged me? On the contrary, I felt so warm and protected.'

From that day on, Sakura didn't push Syaoran away anymore, although she wasn't exactly warm to him either.

"She seems to be avoiding me, or is it just my imagination? I wonder what is the matter with her.'

He and her went to the forest almost everyday to draw, sometimes from sunrise until sunset. All the while, he taught her some simple sign language. She was smart, and got the hang of it easily.

Fujitaka often watched at them from outside his window, smiling fondly at the two, glad that his daughter had finally found a new friend.

-----

'Today, let's paint.' Sakura stared at Syaoran in horror. Although she had improved her shading, with great help from Syaoran, she had never painted before. He produced a pastel and a few brushes and began on his painting expertly.

She was awed by his skill. He didn't sketch, yet it was so precise, especially the different use of colors.

When Syaoran saw that Sakura hadn't started on her painting, he queried her.

"I take that you haven't painted before?"

She slowly nodded and blushed.

He studied her for a moment, making her squirm, before standing up abruptly. He packed all their belongings in one hand and used the other to grab Sakura's arm and practically dragged her out of the forest.

Shocked and shy at his touch, Sakura followed him without protest.

After they reached the meadows just outside the woods, he let go of her arm and asked her to lie on the soft grass.

"Okay, look at the sky above you carefully. When you are sure about the different colors, you can start your painting."

After a short while, Sakura got up from her position and dipped her brush uncertainly into the bowl of clear water from a lake nearby and used it to dilute the blue paint. Her brush wavered through the white sheet, making it turn into a light blue.

Then, she did the same thing with the white paint and was about to paint when a tanned hand rested on hers.

For some unknown reason, her face heated up.

"Princess Sakura, you are not observing hard enough."

The blush left Sakura's face and she knitted her eyebrows in confusion.

"You are drawing what you know, not what you see."

She looked down and bit her lip in frustration. Seeing her reaction, he decided to explain a little bit further.

"The clouds you know are white, but here, it isn't exactly white. Look closer, it is actually a light shade of gray. But that's not all. The sky is also not as blue as you think it is. Do you see what weather it is like today?"

Sakura squinted her eyes, then, she saw it.

Today was a rainy day, and that was why they had left the palace a little later than usual. The sky was gray blue rather than just light blue. There was also a half transparent rainbow that you could hardly see unless you concentrated on it.

Not wanting to waste another moment, Sakura began to paint furiously.

Syaoran smiled at her tenderly, admiring her wit and talent.

Time flew by, and it was already late afternoon.

Sakura's painting was finally finished. She stood back to have a good look.

It was a bit smudgy and the colors looked a bit strange and not completely blended together, but for a starter, she did a pretty amazing job.

He gave her a genuine smile.

Then, as if realizing something, he scrutinized her outfit and offered her a hand, which she took gratefully. Kneeling in the grass for a few hours had made her legs quite stiff.

He looked sheepishly at her and began to walk.

"Gomenasai, I almost forgot that the king has informed me earlier this morning that he had something to show you, and for you to look your best."

He quickened his pace and was surprised to find that Sakura was surpassing him, running at full speed. She was in loose pants and boots, but still, she had looked so fragile to him. Looks could be deceiving.

He picked up his pace and caught up with her at ease. Soon, the Kinomoto palace came into view and Sakura walked inside alone, since Syaoran said that he had to do something.

'I wonder why he looked so rushed?'

Lost in her own thoughts, she bumped into someone at the entrance. The person wrapped an arm securely and Sakura looked up to find a pair of silver orbs that held a malicious glint in them.

She immediately recognized him as the boy who tried to rape her a week ago. She tore away from his grasp.

"Koniichiwa, Princess Sakura, I apologize for the incident a week ago."

What the hell was he doing here? She panicked and was about to run for the guards when her father appeared in front of her.

"This is Prince Yuki, the heir to the throne of the Yoshiwa Kingdom, our powerful neighbor. He has asked for your hand in marriage, and I will give you some time to decide whether you want to accept his offer or not. For the meantime, he shall be living with us."

Shocked, Sakura stared at her father. Although he told her as if she had a choice, he was one that would never accept a no for an answer when he decided on something, and she was sure this was something he was keen to accomplish. There was no way he would ever believe her even if she told him about the incident a week ago, he'd just think she's fibbing and will force her to marry the prince immediately. She didn't come out of her trance until she felt something cold being slipped onto her middle finger. She gasped soundlessly in horror as she saw Yuki slip a diamond platinum ring on her finger.

Without thinking, she withdrew her hand and pulled out the half-slipped ring. Taking it in her hand, she threw the ring on the ground in force, making it clatter in contact with the ground and rolled away.

Quickly, she covered her face with her hands and rushed away from the two men, from the men that tried to rape her, from the father that she once loved and was beginning to trust, although the trust was being shattered all over again.

'Why? I hate you, otou-san!'

To be continued…

----------

Okay, I want to thank you all again for your wonderful reviews, but I'm sad to say that there won't be any sneak peek this time since I haven't started to write the next chapter. Anyway, there is one reviewer that I would like to thank most, and that is firnoviel. I didn't' realize that, but unfortunately, grammar is one of my weakest points, and unless I have a beta reader, which I don't, it's probably not gonna change because I don' t really understand, and I'm 15 now too, with the worst English teacher probably alive. I once asked her to explain a tense that I was confused of, and she said, "It's the model answer." End of question, ha!

For the Syaoran being a prince…when I read a story, I hate authors for being so secretive and not revealing anything until the last moment, they suddenly all pop up as if they have just thought of the plot just then.

Well anyway, end of my blabbering, it's time for AD time. For my other piece of trash, "Revenge is Sweet, Love is Sweeter", please read it and review since the epilogue is finally up.

Words: 2147


	4. Portrait of a Cherry Blossom

Love without Words

By Zilver Wings

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Summary: She was the ice princess who was mute. When her family hired a tutor to teach her sign language, they never expected love to blossom. But a princess and a commoner would never work together. However, things change and Syaoran proves not to be an ordinary peasant.

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Chapter 4

Portrait of a Cherry Blossom

Syaoran was humming softly as he walked to his room in the Kinomoto palace, with his hands in his pockets, smiling as he grasped the object firmly in his hand.

'I wonder if she will like it?"

Just then, he saw a familiar figure pinning a maid against the wall in the corridor and was roaming her sides as the maid struggled to break free of his hold. It was Chiharu, possibly the only maid in this palace who wanted only to be his friend and nothing more. He felt steam come out from his ears as he charged towards her.

"Stop it immediately!"

The figure immediately dropped his hands to his sides and turned his head around slowly,

Syaoran gritted his teeth in attempt to stop himself from punching the lights out of the boy who tried to rape Sakura a few days ago.

"Uhh, hi." The boy backed away fearfully as he saw Syaoran slowly advanced on him, both not aware that the brunette had already ran away in fright.

"What are you doing here?"

His voice was calm, but somehow, his murderous eyes scared him even more. He struggled to compose himself and spoke with a trembling voice.

"I am Prince Yoshiwa Yuki of the Yoshiwa Kingdom. I am going to be engaged to the fair Princess Sakura soon."

A smirk formed on Yuki's lips as he saw Syaoran's eyes widen with each syllable. He expected the proud peasant to crawl at his feet and beg for forgiveness, but instead, Syaoran whispered, "This cannot possibly be true." Before running off and leaving the prince alone, stunned.

Yuki's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Look out, I will make your life a living hell after I marry Sakura."

----

The king was in his room, staring at some book which he didn't know as his thoughts drifted away.

He could not forget the look his daughter just gave him some time ago. They reflected so much emotion that he couldn't possibly list them out. But two stood out from the rest of them. Hurt and betrayal.

But he had no choice.

In Kinomoto, you could be the ruler as long you were capable, sex did not matter. Ever since Touya left them, the only candidate left was Sakura. However, in order to be a ruler, you had to be married by twenty so there would be an heir.

Fujitaka was aging, and he knew that it was almost time to let his daughter take over. He had let Sakura refuse all her suitors before because they had wanted her to move to their kingdom once they were married. However, the Yoshiwa Kingdom was more than happy to let the prince to move in the Kinomoto kingdom.

The Yoshiwa Kingdom was small, but Prince Yoshiwa Yuki, although was known to be quite a playboy, had also proved his ability as he had won almost every war he had ever led.

However, there was one secret Fujitaka hid from him. It was Sakura's handicap. He casually lied to Yuki that Sakura had suffered from a big attack and was in deep sorrow, so she was not going to speak for a while. The prince had looked quite doubtful when he heard his words, but at that time, Sakura appeared and caused the disastrous scene.

He half expected Yuki to stomp away angrily, but to his amazement, Yuki smiled and said that she was the kind of women he was looking for.

Fujitaka had some doubts, he knew Yuki only saw Sakura for her looks, but he was also in an arranged marriage with Nadeshiko, and they fell in love after a while. So it was going to be the same for the two, right?

His conscience disagreed with him, but he chose to ignored it.

He called in his faithful butler.

"I don't want to see anyone today."

The butler understood, and looked at the king sorrowfully before leaving.

----

"What do you mean I can't see the king?"

Syaoran yelled as the two guards, who stood emotionlessly outside the hard wooden door that separated him from Fujitaka.

"I'm sorry, Li-san, but the king has forbid anyone to go see him."

"But I have something really important to ask him!"

"I'm sorry, we are only carrying out the orders."

Syaoran sighed in frustration and raked his hand through his tousled chestnut hair.

He walked to his room and opened the door in resignation when he saw someone standing outside the balcony.

It was Sakura. Her back was to him.

Anger left him and was replaced by confusion and concern.

He neared her and whispered her name softly.

"Princess?"

He stood beside her and realized that she was gripping the fence tightly, her knuckles turning white.

She was looking at the scenario below her, but he could see that her eyes, the tint of spark once present in her eyes since his arrival was completely gone. They became dull once more, and it made his heart ache.

"I'm sorry about your engagement, I will do anything to stop him from marrying you."

Sakura turned in surprise. His voice had been as hard as steel as he said that sentence. Should she trust him?

A look at his determined eyes told her that she could trust him with her heart.

Syaoran stared into her eyes. They were clouded with doubt at first, but then, they cleared. It was strange. They seemed to form some sort of bond with each other. Somehow, the sign language Syaoran taught Sakura never did come to use. Sakura was rarely with her father, since he was a busy man, and she certainly didn't communicate with the servants. That left only him, but they could always tell each other's emotions whenever they looked into each other's eyes. To them, it was the best communication tool.

He saw that she was pale of cheer, so he walked behind her and put his hands on hers, making her face slowly turn beet red.

Gently, he unclasped her fingers on the fence and turned around so she was facing him.

He fumbled around in his coat, and feeling the object in his hand, he took out his other hand to cover it and took it out.

"I bought this for you at the market I saw today."

He took away one hand and Sakura gave a soundless gasp.

On his hand was a beautiful necklace. Fixed at the center of the thin, silver chain, was a little silver bear sitting while holding a small pink cherry blossom. There was a small jade at the middle.

"You like it?"

Syaoran let out his breath in relief as he saw her nod her head vigorously. When he designed it, he thought it looked pretty childish, but somehow, suited her. Luckily, his conscience didn't fail him.

He took it from her hands delicately and put it on her slender neck. Secretly enjoying the cold and warm touch on her milky white skin, Sakura quickly picked up a hand mirror and looked at her reflection.

It was situated just below her collarbone, and was simply breathtaking. She held the pendent in her hands, then feeling a scratch behind it, she turned it over and her eyes widened. In the back was a was a word engraved artistically on it- Sakura.

Syaoran saw her confused look, and walked closer to see the word. Cursing in his mind, he quickly spoke.

"Uhh, the person who sold it to me was very nice, and let me engrave your name on it."

Sakura nodded her head and her face radiated in happiness although she wasn't smiling.

Syaoran couldn't believe it. How dense was this girl? He personally thought that the first excuse he said about buying the necklace in a market was pretty ridiculous. I mean, for a princess, she should probably know all about jewelry, and that necklace there certainly cost him a fortune. But the second one, about him engraving it in five minutes, it was simply absurd!

Oh well, it was because of her dense nature that made him get off the hook so easily. She was one strange girl, he concluded. She had such clashing personalities. It seemed impossible to have all the personalities she did in one person, but she did, and somehow, it still made her perfect.

He stared, entranced by her beauty. She seemed so happy, such a sight should not be gone unseen. Suddenly, he got an idea.

"Hey, Princess Sakura, how about I draw you an oil painting portrait?"

Sakura looked up from her mirror and knitted her eyebrows together. She didn't like to be watched by others, but seeing his eager expression, she didn't want to disappoint him, so she nodded her head in hesitation.

Happy with the reply, Syaoran quickly fished out his drawing equipments from his bedside drawer before settling down on an armchair next to the bed.

'What does he expect me to do, just sit there?'

On cue, as if reading her mind, Syaoran opened his mouth.

"Sakura, you can just sit there. Strike whatever pose you like, just freeze."

Then, they both _froze_.

"Oh my, I am so sorry, Princess Sakura, it just slipped out of my mouth, please excuse me for that."

However, Sakura's face showed no anger. In fact, a very small but visible smile was playing on her lips. It was the first time she saw him squirm, and it was very funny.

No one outside the family had ever called her Sakura before, only five people did. Her father, mother, onii-chan, Tomoyo, and Daidouji-san. Somehow, it seemed so right when he called her name.

"So, Princess Sakura"

He stopped mid-sentence as he saw her frown. Immediately, he realized what was wrong.

"Do you want me to call you Sakura?"

One look from her eyes and he knew that his guess was right.

"Okay, _Sakura_," he emphasized the word, making Sakura smile in satisfaction. "Just stop moving for now, okay?"

After a while, Sakura stopped squirming, and Syaoran took out some brushes and began to paint.

He drew her face first. It was thin and oval-shaped, and her facial features were delicate. Her look was serene. Her big emerald eyes were looking faraway, as if in thought, and glowed softly. Her nose was straight, and her full pink lips were curved slightly upwards. A blush on either side of her face contrasted with her pale complexion, and her auburn hair framed her face nicely. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought that she was a fallen angel.

Then, after he'd finished her head with alarming speed, he moved downwards.

He painted her neck without the necklace so it would dry, and then to her dress. It was only a simple yellow knee-length cotton dress. He had seen more beautiful ones. But, at that moment, no dress in the word could look more becoming than the one she wore. Her hands were folded neatly on her lap and her slender legs were crossed with white flat heels.

Then, he came back to the neck, and slowly painted the necklace he had given her. It added a spark to her rather dull outfit.

"All done."

He looked at his watch and chuckled as Sakura gaped at him.

"Okay, I know, two hours is pretty short, but hey, I'm a master! Come closer to have a look."

Sakura got up from her sitting position and walked closer towards him.

When she saw the oil painting, she was astonished. She had plenty of self-portraits, but not one of them could be compared to the one Syaoran just drew. It looked real. The colors were bright, and it captured the person's, in that case, her, facial expression completely.

Just then, someone knocked at the door and in stuck Chiharu's timid face.

"Uhh, Li-san and Princess Kinomoto, the king is expecting you downstairs for tea."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the wall, letting out all her anger on it, then walked downstairs, followed by Syaoran.

When they arrived, Fujitaka and Yuki were already present, each taking the ends of the table, the seat reserved for her father and for an important guest.

"Good afternoon to you two. Syaoran, come and sit next to me." Fujitaka smiled pleasantly at the two.

She saw her otou-san wiggle his eyebrows at her suggestively to the seat next to Yuki, who was grinning from ear to ear while his eyes traveled down her body, making her shiver involuntarily. She ignored her father's will and quickly grabbed a seat next to Syaoran.

Yuki's grin faltered and Fujitaka's lips were in a straight thin line, but Sakura didn't take notice of them as she slowly grabbed a cheese sandwich in the basket closest to her.

In the Kinomoto palace, there was no such thing as dinner, teatime was the last meal of the day, so many delicacies were present on the table, so it was impossible for a person to sit at the table and get everything they desired.

Syaoran was standing up and reaching over to get a piece of salmon sushi when he felt a hand tug on his sleeve. He looked down to see Sakura staring at the piece of sushi he grabbed on his chopsticks.

Smiling affectionately at her, Syaoran gave his piece of sushi to her before grabbing another piece for himself.

Sakura moved her hands, a gesture in sign language that meant arigatou. Syaoran just stared at her for a moment, before beaming and did back a 'you're welcome' gesture.

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence, but the scene exchanged between the two had been carved deeply into the minds of the two men.

Fujitaka looked worriedly at the two as he saw a jealous Yuki glaring furiously at Syaoran.

To be continued…

----

Whew, I've finished another chapter, whoppee! stands on chair and does a victory dance before losing her balance and fall upside down on her head 

Hope you liked this chapter, I thought it wasn't bad.

There's a strange thing I've realized in all of my stories. The reviews have a tendency to drop after every chapter, why is it so? Good grief! Oh well, thanks for everyone who reviewed and please continue to R&R.

Firnoviel- I appreciate your wanting to beta my story, but unlike all other great authors, I tend to think of the plot for a long time before finish it in a few hours and then just post it online, so I won't have to worry about being accused of not updating my story frequently. But it would be great if you could help me rewrite some sentences where I always mix up my tenses so I'll understand what's wrong with it, if you have time, I have already studied four grammar books when I was in primary school, and you know what, I still forget what adjectives and adverbs are, I'm a hopeless case! Sorry but making it unclear, but Sakura is not color blind, the 'life she once saw as colorful and bright turned to black and white' is just her perspective of life. And about the engagement ring, you were right, I asked my classmates and they said it was the middle finger. Then, I looked up on wikipedia and it said it was supposed to be on the ring finger, ar, thank you so much for pointing it out! runs out of house with knife and hunts down my classmates 

l x lmystikalxstarzl x l- Thanks for volunteering to be my beta reader, please refer to the reply I gave to firnoviel. Yeah, people do say that I give out too many details, but I don't plan to keep it a secret. I've also said earlier, I hate those kind of angst fics that don't give anything out until the last moment, when everything just comes out suddenly. It's ridiculous, as if the writer hadn't thought of the plot earlier and just wanted to hurry up and finish the story.

For all the others, thank you again, if you spot any mistakes or have any questions regarding this story, please feel free to tell me.

By the way, do you think Tomoyo should appear in this story? I want her here, but I can't find any place for her. If you have any suggestions, please tell me.

Words counted: 2800


	5. Haunting Past

Love without Words

By Zilver Wings

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Summary: She was the ice princess who was mute. When her family hired a tutor to teach her sign language, they never expected love to blossom. But a princess and a commoner would never work together. However, things change and Syaoran proves to be no ordinary peasant.

----------------------------

_Some memories can never be erased by time. They just stay with us, fading as time goes by, but never disappearing. They are too deep to forget. Especially painful ones._

Chapter 5

Haunting Past

'There must be some way.'

Syaoran felt tired and worn out.

For the past few days, he had been searching for his desired scrolls for endless hours after being granted special permission by Fujitaka to access the Kinomoto Grand Library, where an unending supply of scrolls and parchments of both ancient and new could be found.

It all started out one day when Syaoran was walking past a scullery maid, who was sowing a patch onto a hole in her dress. The needle accidentally fell from her hands, and stuck deeply into Syaoran's elbow.

At once, Syaoran felt his arm go numb, and he stood still, deep in thought, ignoring the anxious apologies from the maid.

It was then did he think of a new possible way to cure Sakura's handicap, and he racked his brain for not figuring out the method earlier.

He told Fujitaka about the possible method, and at once, Fujitaka agreed to let him gain access to the library to search for the information he needed.

He heaved out a sigh as he heard the birds chirping loudly from outside. He had been enduring another painful day of climbing up and down the stairs to retrieve different scrolls. However, nothing ever seemed to be useful. And it didn't help at all that he was still not familiar with the Japanese words. After all, it had been a long time since his tutor had taught him that language. It wasn't as if they'd ever thought that he would need to read another language other than Cantonese. It was essential for him only to learn the communication part.

The streak of hope he had founded was dying down.

He slowly climbed down the stairs to avoid straining more of his back when a thick scroll caught his attention.

It had two simple Chinese words carved on it. But to him, it was the most important words at the moment. "Jum Gao." (A/N: I'm sorry, I thought of using Manderin, but it absolutely sucks. I failed in Putonghua because of my terrible pronounciation. XP)

He picked it up with great care, and continued the rest of the way down.

Once his feet touched the hard, wooden floor, he quickly walked to the large wooden table and lit a candle before laying the scroll on the table softly and unfolded it carefully.

He almost started rejoicing when he saw that the language was good old Chinese. He could tell that the scroll was very ancient, since it was made of bamboo, but not paper. Long ago, when paper was still not invented, their ancestors would cut down bamboo sticks, link them together, and carved words on the surface.

Although the bamboo had creaks all over it, and some of the carvings were smudged, he could guess out the meaning.

"Zum Gao si yut zong Zong Gwok go lo yi zi m tung zut bang dik yi zi fong fat."(A/N: Okay, the pronunciation is in Cantonese. So unless you're from HK, you wouldn't understand it. I'll let you all figure it out yourself. Just kidding. But it is very complicated, I'll try my best to explain it to you, but some terms cannot be explained, even I ain't really sure of what it is, so don't trust me.)

"Acupuncture an ancient Chinese medical method to cure different kinds of pain. The method is by sticking needles in the special spots in the human body to control the biological activity. (A/N: This rubbish explanation is actually just 'yuet dough'.) It will cause numbness when a needle is stuck in these spots. This method can help to activate the dead or inactive veins in the body, and can also heal different kinds of diseases, including joint pains, headaches, colds, etc. It can also help you relax and calm down your nerves."

Syaoran skimmed through the long scroll quickly before halting his vision abruptly.

"Although not succeeding every time, there has been some cases where the handicapped could be healed. For example, there was once a mute middle-aged woman. After doing acupuncture, she was able to speak again after a short while. It has not been proved yet, but we have a strong believe that the dead vocal chords of the woman were 'excited' by the treatment, making it become active again. About a hundred years ago, a…"

Although the piece of information was very short, it had proved that his assumption had been right.

A long time ago, when a doctor once came to see his sick mother, he saw the doctor stick needles into her mother's face and hands. Awed by this, he had begged the doctor to teach him some basic knowledge about this medical treatment. Not being able to resist his pleads, the doctor gave in and did as he requested.

Glad to see that his effort had not gone down the drain, he quickly copied the information into his own leather notepad before exiting, not remembering to put the scroll back in place.

Just after he had disappeared, a long black shadow appeared at the entrance and slowly stepped in, their boots making a small clinking sound with every step they made.

The person picked up the scroll, and their eyes widened slightly.

"How could a Chinese peasant boy know how to read the traditional Chinese language? Only the royalties would have the privilege to. Li Syaoran, you are not what you seem to be, and I'm going to find out your true identity."

He dropped the scroll back on to the table and left the room, the tint of silver in his eyes reflected the sunlight shining from outside into the dark library.

----

"I am something to tell you."

Confused, Sakura stared at the unfamiliar spark in her tutor's amber pools, which enhanced their enchantment.

She tilted her head slightly, indicating that she was paying attention.

"For the past few days, I've been searching through the Grand Library. Guess what, I have found a new way that may cure your muteness, if you pardon the expression."

Syaoran hurriedly opened his leather pad and shoved it on her lap.

Sakura picked up the pad in bewilderment and buried her head in it.

A few minutes later, he was still facing the back of her head.

Growing more and more impatient by the second, he finally stopped his pacing and walked to her.

Sensing his presence, Sakura finally looked up, and Syaoran felt his heart stop beating. The atmospheric pressure grew heavy all of the sudden, and the environmental temperature was so high that he found trouble in breathing. (A/N: Haha, I am studying Biology too much.)

Her glassy eyes clashed with his. One look, and he knew that she was grateful and deeply touched by his work. For the first time, he saw a smile adorn her face. It was ghostly, but genuine. It was foreign, but somehow, he had a feeling that she used to smile all the time, for it suited her the best.

Excitement flowed through his veins.

"Would you like to come to the Li kingdom, my homeland, and try this method? I know a lot of famous professionals there."

Her smile waned, and his blood grew cold as he watched her downcast eyes.

She slowly shook her head, and he felt his happiness slip through his fingers.

"I understand, it's okay."

He winced as he heard his own voice go edgy, but he couldn't help it. Not trusting his emotions anymore, he quickly muttered a goodbye before taking the pad which was in Sakura's hands and walked away from her room.

Sakura knew that she had hurt his feelings, and she was sorry for it, but she couldn't risk it. She had been disappointed too many times. There was no hope in the zum gao thing, something she didn't really understand even after reading Syaoran's pad.

'Gomenasai, Li.'

Her eyes rested on the windows to see a golden carriage outside the gates of the palace. A figure got out. Sakura squinted her eyes, but it was no use. They were too far away.

"Ummm, excuse me?"

Sakura whipped her head around to see her favorite maid and old friend, Chiharu peeking from the creak of the half closed door.

Sakura nodded her head, and Chiharu entered.

"Princess Sakura, the king has ordered you to go out at the front gate to meet a friend of yours immediately."

A friend of hers? She gave a soundless scoff. Yeah, right, she didn't have any friends. But the thought of the stranger intrigued her. In the end, curiosity got the upper hand, and Sakura stood up from her bed and went downstairs.

Her eyes had just were still on the floor as she took the last step as a shrill voice rang out.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura went back up one step.

Not trusting her ears, her emerald eyes slowly traveled upwards.

Without another word, she turned around and picked up her dress before dashing back up.

"Sakura-chan, onegai! Sakura-chan!"

Sakura ignored the breaking of the voice as she continued her way. Once she reached her bedroom, the safest spot at the moment, she slammed the door and locked it.

She leaned her body on the door for support before she collapsed.

She shook her head violently, trying to rid of the image. It was just a nightmare, just a nightmare.

The curly and long raven hair, the sparkling amethyst, the ghostly white skin, it couldn't be true.

"_Sakura-chan, are you okay? Sakura-chan, why aren't you answering me? I know that you have just recovered from your illness, I'm really sorry for not seeing you, but I was out of town with my mother to do some trading. Remember the singing competition we had anticipated for so long? It will be held next week, I'm so excited! Let's practice today if it's okay with you. Sakura-chan?"_

It was the last time she had heard her melodic voice before today. Her haunting memories were coming back to taunt her.

It was the memory she had once treasured, but now, she wanted nothing but to shut out and never retrieve again. The friendship they once shared had grown cold because of her handicap, the one she had chosen to throw away.

She shut her eyes tightly as a tear escaped from her eyes slid down her face, and finally falling onto the soft mattress.

'Tomoyo-chan…'

To be continued…

----

Yup, this chapter is kind of short, but I don't have a lot of time in my hands now, and I can't really just continue on here, so I stopped. Okay, you guys said that you wanted Tomoyo to appear, so I made her appear. Thank you for your suggestions, but I must say that I was disappointed with some of your reviews.

I had already mentioned in my previous chapter that Sakura knew Tomoyo. "No one outside the family had ever called her Sakura before, only five people did. Her father, mother, onii-chan, Tomoyo, and Daidouji-san." Oh well, I'm being over-sensitive, thank you for all of your reviews again. And one more thing, there will not be any ET pairing at all cause I totally hate it! If you want to know why, see my others stories and you'll know my reason.

Rukz- Video-taping, obsession with Sakura and making Sakura dresses is actually Tomoyo's nature in the Cardcaptor Sakura series. But I won't make her so hyper in this story, otherwise, she won't fit in, and definitely no videotaping, since this story happens generations and generations and generations and generations and generations (shut up!) back.

Lanita Sena- Thanks. I try to think like that, but still, it would discourage you if you see that the hits are becoming less and less. What if one day, no one reads it at all?

Firnoviel- Uhuh, I did what you commended, read it out aloud, and improved some of the strange sentences, hope that it has gotten better.

It is very late now, and I am very sleepy as I'm writing this. I can see that there isn't much plot and there's something wrong with the continuity, but I don't want to delay this chapter any longer. I apologise for all of my mistakes, please bear with them. Good night to me. (Can't believe I got 100 reviews! Fly me to the moon… :D)

Another AD: Please read my first one-shot "Road to Memory Lane". It isn't good since my condition was even worse than now when I was writing it, lol. But please give me some comments and tell me if I should write more one-shots or just stick to these long, long ones.


	6. Kept Vow

Love without Words

By Zilver Wings

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Summary: She was the ice princess who was mute. When her family hired a tutor to teach her sign language, they never expected love to blossom. But a princess and a commoner would never work together. However, things change and Syaoran proves to be no ordinary peasant.

----------------------------

_Some memories can never be erased by time. They just stay with us, fading as time goes by, but never disappearing. They are too deep to forget. Especially painful ones._

Chapter 6

Kept Vow

She just had the weirdest dream. She dreamt that she met her old best friend again, who was to stay with her from now on. Luckily it wasn't true.

Opening her tear-streaked eyes groggily, she stumbled into the bathroom to change and brush her teeth automatically without being called.

Minutes later, emerging in a lacy white dress, she walked downstairs to have breakfast, just like every morning.

However, the sight in front of her wasn't like everyday at all. The princess blinked a couple of times to be sure that her eyes weren't betraying her. When she saw that they were perfectly fine, she felt a pit in her stomach and she began to stalk back towards her room when someone suddenly grabbed her wrist in a death grip.

Sakura tried to yank it away without turning back, afraid of showing her emotions, but the person was too strong. Giving up struggling, she turned around and was aghast to find that the person was Syaoran.

He remained stony when he saw the hurt and betrayal in her eyes. She masked her emotions well, but just like everyone, her eyes showed it all, sometimes even more than others. To him, she was an open book, and she knew it.

Looking at her steadily, he loosened his grip and said in an icy tone.

"Running away is never a solution to anything, it just proves that you are weak."

Shocked, Sakura parted her lips slightly, able to read between the lines. Then, with fierce determination in her eyes, she glared at Syaoran for a split second before averting her gaze on the new arrival and walking to sit next to her.

Syaoran flinched inwardly. He knew he was being really harsh to her, but it was the only way to stop her from running away from all of her problems. She was a headstrong, and would never back out from a taunt.

'End of my hard-earned friendship with the ice princess.' He grimaced to himself while walking back to the table, his eyes on Sakura, who had her face on the table, devouring food as if there was no tomorrow and not making eye contact with anyone.

Trying to break the ice, Yuki spoke up.

"Kinomoto-san, we have discussed earlier that an engagement party will set place in three months time. My parents are coming in the last week, is it okay with you?"

Syaoran's head immediately snapped up. Seeing this reaction, Yuki smirked to himself.

"Uhh," Fujitaka took a quick glance at the very unladylike way his daughter was acting before continuing. "Sure, my son Touya will also come back home soon."

Unable to tolerate any of this anymore, Sakura suddenly bolted upright, causing her chair to produce a loud screech as the legs were jerked violently backwards.

Nodding her head slightly to acknowledge everyone, she walked out of the room. Fujitaka sighed. His daughter was returning to her old self, and it was his fault, but he had no choice. He didn't want Sakura to be too close with Syaoran and cause Yuki misunderstanding. But somehow, his conscious told him that he was making excuses for himself. He did have a choice. The problem is, was he making the right one?

The only girl left quickly put down her utensils and asked permission to be dismissed before chasing after her once best friend.

"Sakura-chan, chotto matte!"

The princess paid no heed to her cries. In fact, she began to quicken her pace.

Tomoyo panted. If there was one thing she could never match up with her friend, it was her athletic skills. Sakura was a born athlete. Ever since they were young, she could win any race easily with the boys.

"Sakura-chan, onegai. Just listen to me this once, onegai!" Tomoyo cried in one last attempt, and didn't expect Sakura to stop all of a sudden, enough though her back was still facing her.

Her usual milky porcelain skin was puffing red, but Tomoyo was determined to speak her mind out.

"Sakura-chan, I'm sorry for not noticing about your disease and hurting you, but please, forgive me. I really miss you Sakura-chan, ever since the day okaa-san suddenly made me leave for the Li kingdom."

She noticed the small quiver Sakura gave. Finally realizing the misunderstanding, Tomoyo clutched the rail and rushed up with great effort in her heels.

"Sakura-chan, I would never abandon you! We are like two berries mould on one stem. Did you forget the vow we made when we were young?"

Sakura still stay rooted on her spot.

"Sakura-chan, are we best friends?" Tomoyo began to quote in a childish voice. "Of course we are, Tomoyo-chan! Let's make a vow." her voice began to break, but she refused to stop. "Whatever happens, I, Kinomoto Sakura, will always be best friends with Daidouji Tomoyo, share my strawberries with her, wear her outfits, and will stay by her side no matter what happens."

"And I," Tomoyo stated in her normal voice, choking, "Daidouji Tomoyo, will always be best friends with Kinomoto Sakura, make her outfits, share stories with her, and will stay by her side no matter what happens."

Sakura bit her lip. Then, without warning, she twirled around and launched herself on the crying girl, almost making her topple over in shock.

"Does that mean we are still best friends?" Tomoyo asked hopefully.

She felt a muffled nod on her shoulder and she grinned through the tears.

"_This vow would never be broken, forever and ever, by Tomoyo and Sakura."_

----

Yuki sneered as he saw his would-be fiancée ignore her tutor.

A peasant should never fall in love with his superior, especially one with such beauty like hers.

'Only a few more months, and I'll have you under my control.'

As expected, Sakura was ignorant to Syaoran after his remark, but it still hurt him deeply to see her so close with the Daidouji girl.

He was strolling in the garden casually when he saw the long lost friend of Sakura.

His gaze followed her as she hummed softly under her breath and started picking some flowers when she paused abruptly and turned around to meet the impassive eyes of Syaoran.

She looked oddly familiar, but he couldn't recall ever seeing her before.

Her eyes widened when she saw him, and she quickly curtsied fearfully.

"Li, Li-sama."

Syaoran frowned hearing her address for him.

"I'm just a tutor of Princess Kinomoto, merely a peasant, why are you addressing me like that? And have I met you before?"

Neither noticed the soft footsteps, nor the shadow of a human figure that reflected a person hidden safely behind a tree, eavesdropping.

"Hai. You met me in the Li palace. Okaa-san introduced me to you during the annual Li ball."

Syaoran shuddered involuntarily. He didn't remember the girl, but he could not let her reveal his identity.

He narrowed his eyes at the girl, who was still holding her dress and bowing her head.

"You," he spoke in a harsh tone which he often used before he came to the Kinomoto kingdom. "are to never tell anyone about my identity or you shall suffer the consequences, are we clear?"

Tomoyo quickly nodded her head, not trusting her own voice.

"You may leave." He commanded tightly. Muttering a quick goodbye, Tomoyo left hurriedly, her heart beating twice its original speed.

Sighing, Syaoran left the garden shortly after, his relaxed mood ruined.

The person walked out of his hiding place, his grin widening.

"So you really aren't a normal peasant after all. Too bad you won't get to see Sakura any longer, since I'm going to find out your true identity."

----

Sakura eyed her friend worriedly, who was still quivering ever since returning from the garden without flowers a few minutes ago.

"I'm okay." Tomoyo kept on assuring the auburn, even though she knew that the princess would not be fooled by her pitiful attempt to stop shivering.

Desperate to distract her, Tomoyo opened a new topic.

"Sakura-chan, I heard from Kinomoto-sama earlier that Li-sam, I mean Li-san, found a way to cure you. Acupuncture is really a very popular and useful way to heal different kind of diseases although I'm not really sure how they do it. You remember the back pain okaa-san used to have? She did acupuncture a few times, and now it's all healed. Promise me that you will think of it. I know you've endured a lot of disappointments, but don't please don't give up."

Sakura looked down.

"_Running away is never a solution to anything, it just proves that you are weak."_

Fuming, she glared at the innocent carpet, recalling his harsh words.

'What right does he have to call me that? He's not handicapped like me, isn't burden with the responsibility as a future heir, hasn't encountered as much disappointments as me.'

----

Syaoran grimaced as he read the letter his okaa-san sent him. He didn't want to leave this place yet, just when he had proposed the suggestion of acupuncture to the king.

Quickly scribbling some words in a small scrap of paper, he tied it securely onto the pigeon's foot and watched as it flew high up in the sky.

'Just a little more time, I have faith in you, Sakura.'

----

Sakura held the angel figurine delicately in her hand, staring intently at it.

'Okaa-san, I feel so depressed, why can't I still find my guardian angel?'

The angel smiled back at her, as if assuring her that everything would turn out alright.

Feeling drowsy, she set the figurine back to the desk and climbed on her bed. She only had one last thought before she dozed off.

"_Running away is never a solution to anything, it just proves that you are weak."_

'Why does it hurt so much to hear that from him?'

To be continued…

----

I hope this chapter cleared all of your questions about the relationship of Tomoyo and Sakura. A lot of short scenes in this chapter, I'm just too lazy to link them up, my teacher had said that my weakest point was connection. P

This will be my last update before my exams, wish me luck. wanders around for a four leaf clover, but finds none Oh well…

Sorry for confusing you with my terrible pin yin, I think I'll stop using it as often anymore.

firnoviel- Nope, I have two one-shots and five long ones. Thank you for the encouragement.

Kinomotoblossom- You had to wait more than one month for this story, sorry. :P

Thank you for all your reviews, please continue to support this **great** story. (since people told me that I was lacked too much confidence in my story, so now, I'm going to expand my ego to that of a balloon, lol.)

Thank you for all of your reviews. Belated Merry Christmas and early New Year!


	7. Lust

Love without Words

By Zilver Wings

----------------------------

Summary: She was the ice princess who was mute. When her family hired a tutor to teach her sign language, they never expected love to blossom. But a princess and a commoner would never work together. However, things change and Syaoran proves to be no ordinary peasant.

----------------------------

_Running away is a sign of weakness that shows you are not willing to face reality._

Chapter 7

Lust

He was starting to lose control. But really, what sane man could keep his cool around her?

Yuki sat on his bed and stared at the crack of his half-closed door as Sakura passed by, carrying a few books under her arm.

Unable to resist the urge, Yuki quickly bounced off his bed and ran to open wide his door, startling his would-be fiancée.

"Just left the library?"

Yuki leaned again the door frame and gave her a charming smile.

Sakura wanted to ignore him, but it was would be a very unwise choice, for it was very early in the morning, and there was no one except she and the prince.

She gave a small nod, hoping that he would let her go, but knowing him, his intentions would never be that innocent.

As expected, his smile widened as he leaned over to her.

"You are the only girl I've come across who is so eager in learning. Come in and let's have a chat."

Sakura shook her head slowly before looking straight ahead and began to walk away from him. However, she had not gotten far enough away when he suddenly appeared in front of her, blocking her way.

"Princess, that wasn't a question." He gave her a tight smile.

Sakura tilted her head as an act of confusion, although she was very aware of what was going on.

"Princess Sakura, it seems as if you always forget that you are going to be my bride very soon. You never speak to me and you spend far more time with your _tutor_, rather than me, you fiancé. It's very disturbing. That's why I proposed to the king to send Daidouji here so you can have a female companion so to prevent rumors."

Yuki looked at Sakura's face for any change, but found none.

Unknown to him, Sakura was very good at shedding her emotions, but inside, she was steaming.

How dare he! What right did he have to tell her whom she may or may not communicate to? Or did he forget that he was the one who raped random girls?

If she could talk, she would've retort back with a witty remark or two and tell him he had no right to boss her around unless he was her husband, which he was not, and never be, since she would never marry such a patriarchy.

Unfortunately, that was the problem. She couldn't speak.

"Ever since the first time I saw you in the wood, I was awed by your angelic beauty. And I felt so lucky when I saw that you were the princess I was engaged to…"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes in annoyance as he droned on and on. The one thing she hated most being royalty was the constant meaningless flatter. One reason she got along with Syaoran was because of his boldness.

The prince finally realized that he had already lost his fiancée's attention after a while. He stared at her faraway expression, and moved down to her red lips, which were slightly open. Suddenly, his instincts took over and he pushed her against the door, making a loud bang.

He saw her shocked expression and he smirked. He was sick of lusting from a distance. He was never a patient person, especially around females, since he always had dozens of them hanging around his arm back in his kingdom.

He grimaced as she began to struggle. For a girl, she was certainly very strong even though her build told him otherwise.

Using a lot of power, he forcefully pinned her wrists over her head, leaving red marks on her pale skin.

Just when he was about to kiss her, he suddenly heard an ear-piercing scream.

Startled, he loosened his grip on Sakura for the second time and quickly looked behind him to find a horrified Tomoyo, her hands clasps over her hand.

The corridor was quiet except for the swishing of Sakura's dress as she ran towards her friend and collapsed on her.

Holding a shaking Sakura in her arms, Tomoyo's alarmed eyes blazed.

"Please explain yourself, Prince Yoshiwa, what were you just doing to Sakura?"

Tomoyo asked in a very loud and anguished voice.

"I, I…it's none of your business, Daidouji. Princess Sakura is my fiancée and what goes between is our own business." Yuki looked at Tomoyo straight in the eye, trying to act indifferent.

Tomoyo wanted to run up to the prince and slap him for hurting Sakura, but her arms were full.

"Apparently, that was not what Princess Sakura had wanted. Your behavior is unacceptable and will be reported to the king."

Without another glance at him, Tomoyo wrapped one arm around Sakura and began to walk away, whispering words of comfort in her ear.

Yuki closed his eyes for a moment before going back to his room, running his hand through his hair in frustration.

'I hope the king won't believe her.'

----

"That is absurd, I absolutely refuse to believe that Yuki would do this."

"But, Kinomoto-san, it's true, I saw it with my very own eyes. Sakura-chan is still very shaken about it."

"I do not want to hear any more of this. Clearly, you and Sakura have teamed up to make up this lie. I cannot comprehend why you two dislike him so much. He's handsome, polite and very smart. Sakura is still young, she doesn't understand what's good for her. Yuki would take good care of Sakura and also be a good king."

Fujitaka waved his hand as a sign of dismissal.

Tomoyo turned away and began to walk away. But she stopped just when she reached the entrance.

"Kinomoto-_sama,_ ever since auntie Nadeshiko passed away, you've changed. You seem to care for the kingdom more than your children. No wonder Touya left. Now, you are blocking the truth away because Prince Yoshiwa is the only prince who is willing to rule your kingdom. Have you ever thought what Sakura would become after he realizes that she is mute?"

She continued her way as if nothing had happened.

Fujitaka stared after her retreating figure.

'Am I really becoming an unfeeling parent?'

He glanced at the sun outside and sighed.

'Nadeshiko…'

----

Syaoran walked in a steady pace as he entered Sakura's bedroom without knocking.

"Sakura, Daidouji told me what happened. Are you okay?" He asked in an urgent voice as he looked intently at her figure lying on the bed.

Seeing no response, he grew even more worried and walked closer to her bed and gently shook her shoulders.

"Daijoubu?"

Still no response.

Syaoran furrowed his eyebrows and sat on the edge of the bed. He brushed Sakura's auburn hair from her face before caressing her cheek tenderly.

"Sakura, it's okay, he didn't do anything to you, and I'll assure you that he won't or he'll suffer the consequences." He soothed her in a gentle voice.

No reaction.

"Okay, I can see that you're still mad at me. I'll just beat him up for you."

His hand left her cheek and he stood up when a small, smooth hand grabbed his large ones.

"Knew that'd get you." Syaoran grinned and sat back down as Sakura slowly propped herself up on her bed.

His smile faded and he began to panic when he saw her glassy emerald orbs.

He was capable of many things but one thing he was incapable of was what to do with crying girls. In the past, whenever he rejected a girl, they would cry, and he would runaway feeling guilty and helpless at the situation. But Sakura wasn't just any girl, she was special.

"Uhh…"

He took out a small handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped her eyes gently with it.

"Are you okay now?"

She gave no reply, and instead, looked down.

Sighing, Syaoran sat closer to her and looked at her face unwavering.

"Sakura, I know you hate disappointments. But you must try to regain your voice. Otherwise, you will be in constant danger, just like today, and what would you do if Yuki realizes that you are mute after he marries you and become king? I think you are smart enough figure out the consequences yourself. Sakura, onegai, try for acupuncture. Me and Daidouji would be going with you too, to the Li kingdom. Furthermore, you can get away from that hateful fool."

Was she willing to take the risk? There really wasn't any risk at all, except disappointment if it failed. But what else had she to lose? Would she rather live being mute for the rest of her live? She could only communicate with Syaoran, since other people didn't know what the hand signs meant.

Syaoran held his breath as he watched Sakura think over his suggestion.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Sakura raised her head and nodded slightly.

"Do you mean yes? You want to go?" Syaoran could barely contain his excitement as he asked for confirmation.

Seeing the goofy smile on Syaoran's face, Sakura turned her head away and her shoulders began to shake uncontrollably.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked anxiously.

Her shoulders were still shaking when she looked back at him, and Syaoran rolled his eyes.

"Good grief, I thought you were crying again! What are you laughing at anyway?"

Sakura covered one hand over her mouth and shook her other hand.

Irritated, Syaoran playfully poked Sakura on the sides, making her squirm, and said in a threatening voice.

"Tell me, or I'll continue poking you."

Stubborn as she was, she didn't give in, and instead, move further back to her bed, while he advanced on her.

"That's the last straw. Poke attack!"

With that, he jumped on her.

In a desperate attempt to get away, she pushed him a bit too hard and he fell backwards, but not before grabbing wildly at her on impulse.

"Ouch."

He groaned in pain as his head hit the wooden end of the bed. Then, he felt something soft land on top of him, making him groan again. Slowly opening his eyes, he realized it was Sakura, whose eyes were widened.

"Sakura-chan, I…"

At that moment, Tomoyo entered, but stopped when she saw the two on the bed.

"Gomenesai, I…I.., Sayonara!"

Tomoyo stuttered and quickly left, closing the door softly behind her, leaving the two startled at her sudden appearance and departure.

Then, they looked back at each other and suddenly realized that their position was suggesting a very intimidating moment. Syaoran's arms were around Sakura's waist, while her hands were on his chest, as if supporting herself. Their legs were also tangled together, which made it look even worse.

Syaoran immediately released his hands awkwardly as if he was holding onto burning coal, and Sakura got off him just as quickly.

"Gomenasai. I…" He colored and looked away. "I'll inform the king about the travel to the Li Kingdom now, uhh, sayonara."

Without waiting for a reply, he quickly opened walked away, accidentally hit himself on the waist by the edge of the desk on his way out. Both didn't notice that the angel figurine on Sakura's desk had disappeared.

Two people, one inside her own room, while the other one outside, leaning against the wall, thought simultaneously:

Now what was _that_?

Then, an entertaining thought entered the mind of the princess, and she smirked.

'Now who said that running away is a sign of weakness earlier?'

To be continued…

----

I swear I'm going crazy. First, I think I'll flunk English writing because I wrote the wrong topic. Then, I go home, wanting to relieve my stress by going online, and found that both of the computers were infected by the same virus! Then, my dad reset them and my computer just got infected again! goes nuts

Curse those stupid people who don't have a life!

Ahem. Anyway, thanks for all of your reviews again, here's another chapter. I hope that my updating rate is acceptable to you all. I think I'm going to concentrate more on this story than my others, since they don't seem to be as popular…

Do you guys prefer more moments like these of SS or not? Please tell me.

Okay, I'm having too much time in my hands after the exams, so I'll reply to most of your reviews.

Butterfle- Thanks a lot for the encouragement, but I'm pretty sure I did terrible /

HyPeR-mAtIc 24-7- It's a known fact that I'm a lazy pig in my family, lol. Oh well, I wrote this chapter as soon I finished those blasted exams, hope you're okay with it, 3 weeks..at least it isn't a month!

TamoumatheStarWarrior- Really? Which character, I hope it isn't Yuki. narrows eyes at you

syaoran101- Do you mean peasant when you typed 'presant'? Tomoyo is the daughter of a noble. For your other question, continue to read to find out. ;)

high-on-sugar- Uhuh, I didn't notice that I was rushing things, I don't really like to reread my previous chapters to see what's going on, super lazy writer. :P Thanks for pointing that out though and for the compliments, I'm trying my best. By the way, Touya's also going to appear later, so don't faint!

Firnoviel- Thank you, I hope that my grammar is still acceptable to you in this chapter.

ccs-sprinkler- You're absolutely right about that, and I am not chopping up the scenes in this chapter because it's kind of annoying to me, but it's far more easier to write like that. I don't think like normal people do.

Weary Soulsearcher- If you didn't figure out that Syaoran is royalty by now, I'd really make a bashing scene of you, and not Yuki! Hmm, Syaoran already hit Yuki in the early chapters, it's going to be kind of annoying if Syaoran keeps bashing him… stay tuned to find out:D

Lanita Sena- I hate choppy chapters, so I'm going to cut that out unless I don't have enough time to organize everything together.

See you guys later, next year perhaps? dodges flying banana skins


	8. Missing

Love without Words

By Zilver Wings

----------------------------

Summary: She was the ice princess who was mute. When her family hired a tutor to teach her sign language, they never expected love to blossom. But a princess and a commoner would never work together. However, things change and Syaoran proves to be no ordinary peasant.

----------------------------

Chapter 8

Missing

The king had immediately approved of the trip after hearing of Sakura's acceptance.

The king and half of the servants in the palace gathered in front of the palace gate as they watched the princess and her other two companions get into the chariots.

Fujitaka had purposely made his daughter's departure simple and quiet to avoid unnecessary accidents. After all, he was still quite worried of the trip. He had heard rumors of Syaoran's martial arts, but he had never seen it. However, he was willing to take the risk. If Sakura was able to recover this time, she would stop acting like a zombie, and he would perhaps even permit her to…

He watched Yuki out of the corner of his eye. He saw the extreme longing and possessiveness in the eyes of the young man as his eyes traced the outlines of his daughter. Fujitaka's face fell.

He had been watching Yuki's behavior these few days since Tomoyo had told him of the incident, and he was starting to believe the girl's words. Yuki had certainly proved to be a very intelligent and would be a capable leader later on. Despite that, he did not approve of his lusting manner around his daughter. He tried to persuade himself that it was just a normal phenomenon for an over-protective father to be overreacting, but it was getting harder and harder, especially after seeing the uncomfortable way Sakura acted whenever the prince was near.

"Kinomoto-sama, we must leave now, sayonara."

The familiar soft voice broke him out of his trance.

Fujitaka's eyes was back in focus to see Tomoyo standing before him with her head bowed low. She gave a quick curtsy and hurried away to escort Sakura into the second chariot and followed in after her while Syaoran got into the first one with Chiharu and their luggage.

All watched as the two chariots begin fading away until they were out of sight.

'I know you won't let anything happen Sakura, Syaoran.'

With one last look, Fujitaka turned back and walked back into the palace, unaware of Yuki's aggressive posture.

"Li, how dare you leave with my fiancée like that. I swear, you will not have the chance to get close to her after you return."

He made the vow and turned around to follow Fujitaka, swishing his robe and almost tripping over it not so majestically.

This made the dreamy looks of the servant girls disappear, and instead, erupt in giggles.

"Actually, Yoshiwa-sama isn't so handsome." One girl whispered. Yuki's ear twitched and he stopped. However, the girls, too engaged in their conversation, failed to notice this.

"I agree. He just doesn't have the manliness in him like Li-san." Another whispered.

"Li-san, I think I'm falling in love with him, he's so handsome, and the way he looks at you"

The group of girls sighed at the mention of the name.

Yuki began to walk again, but his jaw tightened and his eyes hardened considerably.

----

"Sakura-chan…"

Tomoyo looked worriedly at her friend, who was staring outside from the window with her head resting on her hand.

She knew something was wrong, since yesterday when she went to have tea with her, she found Sakura searching around the room frantically, trying to find something. In fact, she had not been willing to leave her room today morning until she had forcefully dragged the princess out.

She adverted her gaze from the princess, and couldn't help but gawk at the scenery outside. It wasn't like the usual grandness she was used to seeing in the palace, but somehow, nature had this strange way of soothing her. The passing trees and green meadows were beautiful in their own way, unlike the artificial kind in the palace.

The gentle bumps caused by the small pebbles on the road gave the same effect of a rocking chair. Slowly, without realizing, Tomoyo's eyelids grew heavier and she drifted off into a deep slumber.

Sakura glanced at Tomoyo's peaceful face for a moment before heaving a small sigh of frustration.

She had lost her angel figurine. She was sure it was on her desk the last time she saw it. But one night a few days ago, when she going to have her daily prayer to her okaa-san, she found it missing.

She was never one to misplace her stuff, however, after searching for hours each day, she still couldn't find the item. She felt very depressed, after all, it was one of the few things she had received from her okaa-san, it meant a lot to her.

'My guardian angel…'

A certain person suddenly appeared in her mind, but she quickly shook her head to get rid of the image.

It couldn't be, it just couldn't be him…

But why not?

The question lingered in her brain. He had been very supportive, and even initiated this trip to help her cure her.

"_In that case, I'll be your guardian angel, forever and forever, even after your angel has come."_

"_What if you die?"_

"_I'll still be there, looking out for you, not letting anything happen to you."_

Was it the reason? She didn't want anyone to replace her okaa-san's place as her guardian angel?

Or was his mysterious aura that made her uncomfortable? He seemed to be hiding something. She was dying inside to find out, but she didn't want to pry into his business even though he did it to her. Privacy is a privilege, she was a fond believer of that saying.

She let out a yawn and she too, followed Tomoyo to dreamland.

Strong rays of sunlight shone through the curtains of the carriages and Sakura woke up just as the chariot came to a stop.

She pushed aside the curtains and saw that they had reached their destination.

Tall walls were built to cover the kingdom and the only entrance was a huge wooden door. On it was one word carved which she could not recognize.

Just as she pushed the curtain even farther back to inspect the place, the door of her chariot suddenly opened and Syaoran's head popped in.

"Pri, Sakura, we've reached the Li kingdom, we will get in now."

Without waiting for a reply, he closed the door and left.

Sakura heard her tutor shout in some foreign language to a guard and saw the guards bow before quickly pulling the chains to reveal the city inside as the wooden door slowly opened.

Her chariot started moving and Sakura surveyed the city with interest as she watched hundreds of small stalls on the street selling different kinds of stuff. There were a lot of market places in her kingdom, but she had never actually seen one.

"Oh, are we here already?"

Sakura turned her head to see Tomoyo wiping her eyes and stretch.

The carriage stopped and the door opened once again by the horseman.

"Arigat"

Tomoyo stopped in mid-sentence as she gawked at the scenery in front of her.

Although she was used to living in the Kinomoto palace, nonetheless, she was amazed by the architecture in front of her.

The Li palace was made of marble with a lot of large windows which reflected the sunlight, making it shimmer beautifully. It was also at least twice the size of the Kinomoto palace, and unlike the palaces she had ever seen, it was very modern even after standing for a few hundred years, she suspected that it had only recently undergone a renovation.

As unwilling as she was, she had to admit that the Li palace looked a lot better than the one she lived in.

"Li-sama, are we staying here?"

Tomoyo was too entranced by the buildings to realize her mistake until Syaoran reminded her in a joking manner.

"Daidouji, I'm only a tutor, why do you address me like that? Li-san is fine."

Tomoyo widened her eyes and turned to Syaoran. Sakura raised her eyebrows as she got off the carriage.

"I…I, gomen nasai!" She bit her lip and lowered her head.

Syaoran had to strain himself from hitting his forehead with his hand.

'This girl is making it become more obvious, what a baka!'

He chose to ignore the apology to avoid further mistakes and instead, answer her previous question.

"Hai. Follow me."

The three girls walked behind him as they entered the gate.

When the guards saw Syaoran, their eyes widened and they immediately bowed to him and opened the gate.

"Huan ying ni huai lai, gong zi." (A/N: This is poor Putonghua cause I absolutely suck in everything regarding Chinese, sorry :P)

Syaoran just smiled and walked on, but Tomoyo couldn't help but lower her head.

Sakura stared at her friend. Tomoyo's behavior was very strange this morning, she wondered what was going on with her.

Sakura grew more and more curious as Syaoran walked up the stairs and didn't stop until they reached the end of the second floor with a lot of rooms on either side of the corridor.

"Choose any two rooms, and they will serve as your temporary bedrooms, I hope you will enjoy your stay here. Mihara, the servant quarter is just downstairs. Just ask any maid here and they will show you."

He began to walk away but a hand gripped his arm suddenly. It was Sakura.

"Nani?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows at him and Syaoran caught the message.

"Oh, are you wondering why you are here?"

Sakura nodded her head.

"Well," He paused for a moment. "since you are a princess, and I know someone here, they immediately agreed when I proposed for you to live here during your stay. Also, to make things more convenient, I will also stay here, but not here since, uhh, you are females."

Sakura's eyes clouded at the _reason._ It sounded pretty strange, but she could not think of another reason to why they were staying here.

Syaoran waved a goodbye at them and took a shaky breath after he was out of sight.

"Whew, was that a close one."

He stopped in his tracks when he saw a person stop in front of him.

"O..Okaa-san."

"Welcome back, Syaoran."

To be continued…

----

Okay, I'm really sorry about the late update but I was suddenly crazy over this Korean drama, and now, I'm watching this J-drama, and I'm totally in love with it! It's called 'Nodame Cantabile', ever heard of it?

Anyway, this is a short chapter cause I kind of lost my inspiration until today. Since I don't want to delay it anymore, I'm just going to update this thing without prove-reading it because it's late at night and I have school tomorrow, gomen nasai! I promise, the next chapter is going to be more interesting. )

Please read and review!

HyPeR-mAtIc 24-7- Or else what? Whew! After reading your review, I decided to update later

since you weren't going to do anything to me even if I do, lol.

Butterfle- Watch out for more than banana skins? How about Snoopy plushies?

Weary Soulsearcher- Very long review and a lot of questions. Sorry but no video camera, I'm trying to make Tomoyo a little bit more normal, not so hyper-active and obsessive over Sakura, her anime self freaked me out, hehe.

Firnoviel- You still have no problem of the speed of my updating now? c'est la vie? kicks you What does it mean, is it French?

Chibi angelle- Uh, I've finally met someone even more violent than me…you swear and hit people a lot don't you? Hmm, someone _will_ teach Yuki a lesson, I wonder who eh? Sorry, I have a lot of time in my hands, but I am starting to have so many different interests my updates are becoming slower, I will try harder to update sooner next time.

cool-girl027- Someone who understands me completely! I was stuck, but it's clearing up now. Yuki reminds you of Yukito? Actually, I did based his look on Yukito, lol.

Light in the Darkness- No! I love long reviews! Wow, your compliments are making me fly all over my room, but I don't think I have that much potential in writing as you say, I often doubt my skills when I read great fanfics by Aisaki and Peace Wish, sigh, they are so great.

TamoumatheStarWarrior- Write more efficiently? I wrote this in about three hours, do you call that efficient? You've not been doing homework for 5 to 6 years?! How old are you, 80? Just joking.

Goal: 200 reviews!


	9. Another Guardian

Love without Words

By Zilver Wings

----------------------------

Summary: She was the ice princess who was mute. When her family hired a tutor to teach her sign language, they never expected love to blossom. But a princess and a commoner would never work together. However, things change and Syaoran proves to be no ordinary peasant.

----------------------------

Chapter 9

Another Guardian

Syaoran froze when he heard her call him by his Japanese name.

"How did you"

"Xiao Lang, you should know better than to lie to me and think that I wouldn't notice. Do you think I would really believe your telling me that you're following your uncle out on a venture to practice your Japanese skills and expect me not to ask your uncle about it?"

Syaoran scratched his head in embarrassment.

"No I guess…but I went to the Kinomoto kingdom for a good cause. I want to have a good relationship with the royalties so it will be easier for me to negotiate with them when I become the next Li leader later on. Anyway, haven't you always said that it's good to go to different places and gain experience?"

It was not common for Syaoran to blabber, but in front of his mother, he would always be the little boy when he was young, powerless again her.

Syaoran was caught off guard when he saw a barely visible smile play on his mother's lips. It was a very rare sight to see his mother have any emotions as all, sometimes, he wondered if his mother wore a mask to seal off all her emotions.

"Xiao Lang, I haven't even said anything. I don't mind you tutoring the Kinomoto princess, but remember she is the next heir to the Kinomoto throne, don't you think you are going a bit overboard by taking her here to try heal her? I hope you can figure out your feelings before it is too late. I will leave you to rest now since there are still a few hours until lunchtime, and welcome back."

Syaoran stared after her, not aware of the girl who had quietly slipped in during the middle of the conversation.

Syaoran walked back to the corridor when he saw Sakura standing in front of the door, staring at the floor, her hand gripping the doorknob so tightly her knuckles had long ago gone white.

"Uhh" Syaoran was at a loss of words. "That, is the queen of the Li kingdom, her name is Li Yelan. She was just here to welcome me back."

Sakura nodded her head and slowly went inside and closed the door behind her.

Sakura walked to her bed and sat down heavily.

She had originally planned to go and take a look at Tomoyo's room after she had finished unpacking. However, she couldn't help but eavesdrop when she heard Syaoran speak to a woman.

Peeking out, she only saw the back of her tutor, but the face of the tall woman could be still seen quite clearly. She never raised her voice throughout the conversation, and spoke just like a royalty. Even though Sakura couldn't understand the foreign language, she could see the motherly look the woman gave Syaoran, and had immediately assumed that she was his mother.

If so, how can she be the queen? Syaoran's identity had always bothered her, but it was becoming more and more unbearable.

----

"Whew!" Syaoran flopped down onto his bed very non-majestically as soon he arrived to his bedroom on the other side of the castle after his conversation with his mother.

It had been ages since he last saw his bedroom, and god, did he miss it dearly.

The room was just as big, the walls just as green, and he could almost swear he could still hear the beautiful singing of the small night gale that used to perch outside his castle on the peony trees he had asked to be planted since it was his favorite flower. However, this time, he wanted to have those peony trees replaced. Lately, he had begun to take a liking for cherry blossoms for no apparent reason.

After a moment of struggling, he finally managed to kick off his troublesome boots and rolled until his face felt the fuzzy material, his favorite position.

However, this time, it didn't seem as comfortable. In fact, there seemed to be a hard bulge on his bed.

Carefully, he sat back up and slipped his hands underneath the bed cover and began to search for some signs of an object, but he found none.

He shrugged and went down again, but just like last time, there was a bulge at his waist. He searched the bed again but it was perfectly flat. Then, he touched his coat absentmindedly, and finally felt the bulge that had been bothering him.

He fished the item out of his pocket curiously while tracing the carvings with his fingers.

"Nani!" He bolted upright, not even aware that he had just spoken Japanese instead of Cantonese.

On his hand was a familiar angel statue he had seen before. He paused and recalled his memories. It didn't take him too long to remember that it was in the first drawing he had seen Sakura made, it looked very depressing in her sketch, but in real life, it looked very positive, and with the light reflecting on its smooth white surface, it almost seemed to give an ethereal glow.

He considered apologizing and giving it back to her, but then, an idea came across his mind, and he grinned.

Without hesitating, he stood up and went to his desk. Ignoring his sleepiness, he gently settled the statue on the desk and began to work feverishly.

----

Dinnertime had arrived.

Seven people, excluding herself, was seated at the dining table, Sakura thought to herself. There was the Queen who sat at one end of the table, four identical women in their early thirties sat on one side while she and Tomoyo sat on the other, and Syaoran, strangely enough, sat on the other end of the table.

"Gon ba wa, Kinomoto-hime and Daidouji-san. I am Queen Yelan of the Li Kingdom. These four ladies here," Yelan nodded at the four women, "are my daughters, Feimei, Fuutie, Fanren and Shiefa. I am very honored to have you as a guest here, and hopefully, we could provide you with a very comfortable stay here. If you need anything, Syaoran would be at your service."

Sakura nodded politely at her. She was impressed by the queen's smooth Japanese, no one in her kingdom, except Tomoyo, knew any other language other than Japanese.

She turned from the queen to the quadruplets and was shocked to find that all four of them had their hands clasped to their chest and their eyes were fixed only on her, with stars shining in them, the exact same expression Tomoyo used to have when she wanted Sakura to try out one of her outfits.

'Oh no…'

"Kawaii!" The four of them suddenly shrieked simultaneously, making Sakura and Tomoyo jump slightly from their seats in surprise.

Yelan's lips lifted up a little as she lightly scolded her daughters.

"I know you are very fond of our guests, but please behave yourselves and don't scare them away with your…eagerness."

"Aww.. but they're so cute!"

Both of the girls sweat dropped while Syaoran gritted his teeth and began to rub his temples in frustration.

"Let's, uhh, eat."

Syaoran was very anxious to get the dinner on and over with so he could carry out his plan.

All seven of them nodded and began to have their meal silently. Sakura, who was constantly being stared at by hawk-like eyes from the quadruplets, felt very uncomfortable and kept on shifting around in her seat, not really eating anything.

Syaoran, on the other hand, practically gobbled up everything that was on his plate hurriedly.

After getting approval from Yelan, he immediately excused himself after dessert was served.

Sakura looked after his figure curiously. She had seen the unhidden excitement in her usually calm tutor's orbs as soon as he had entered the dining room, and wanted to figure out what he found so exciting. She wanted to follow him and escape from the quadruplets, however, it would be rude to do so, so she sat still until all of them finished.

Luckily, they all understood that she was mute, so there was no chatting after the meal. And to Sakura's tremendous relief, Yelan also managed to force the four 'predators', who looked ready to pounce at her any moment, to leave Sakura alone on her first day.

Sakura and Tomoyo parted after going up the staircase because Tomoyo wanted to take a bath.

"Ja ne, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura waved back before strolling back to her room casually. But her relaxed mood disappeared when she saw something in front of her door.

Walking up, she picked up the rolled up sheet of paper. As she slowly unrolled it, she gasped.

It was a beautiful painting of her long-lost angel figurine with the sun as the background to give it a very positive look. But what really made her surprised was the figurine itself that was rolled up inside.

'Syaoran…'

Then, she suddenly realized that there was a small sheet of paper stuck to the bottom of the angel.

She turned it upside down, and saw the words which made a smile grow gradually on her face.

'Arigatou, Syaoran.'

"_**I'm sorry for taking your angel figurine, I didn't even know I had it until today, when I found it in my coat pocket. Other than that, I also drew a painting of it. I just couldn't forget that sketch of yours that day. Please, don't always look at everything in a negative way. Whenever you feel sad or angry, I would be more than happy to stay by your side to help you overcome your difficulties, after all, we're friends, just like your guardian angel."**_

Then, her smile began to fade when she read the last line.

'We're friends, yes, we're just friends, nothing more. If so, why do those words seem to hurt so much?'

Living as a princess in the palace for so many years, the protected environment was able to preserve her innocence, and what some may call, naivety.

To be continued…

----

This is just one meaningless chapter, sorry for not updating for so long since I was so engaged in Neopets, but now, I've taken a break from it. Anyone who play that online game must know that they made outrageous changes to everything, and I'm so angry!

Anyway, I apologize for any grammar mistake cause life has become busier since the exams are coming, so forgive my grammar and anything that doesn't make sense cause I myself, have no idea where this story is going, as a writer, I'm a complete failure. XD

I'm so happy I received so many reviews in the last chapter, 38! That's why I decided to update this story first :D.

Unknown- Yup, thank god camcorders weren't invented then! The Li sisters have appeared, but for Meiling, I don't know.

XXxWingsofDreamsxXx- Thanks for letting me reach my goal, 200th reviewer! If only I knew French,, but, Ce'st La vie, haha.

Light in the Darkness- Awww (blushes) I'm showered by compliments! Yup, I've found inspiration for this story and also for my other story, 'Flawless' too.

MoonLove Angel- (watches as you get killed) Sorry for not updating so long, please continue to read, if the suspense hasn't killed you yet. :P

TamoumatheStarWarrior- You're so old! Thanks, I hope you do well in your.. next exam since your mid term has long been over. Don't worry, some one is going to give Yuki a lesson, but who exactly?

SakuraXSyaoran- You read 'Revenge is Sweet'?! Oh no, that is my crappiest story. (hides in embarrassment) If Sakura isn't dense, how can the story go on? Thanks for your compliments.

Adelaide MacGregor- Oh no, I had meant carriages! I'll amend them later and thank you. I know I should write the plot outline and everything else before I start a story, but somehow, I am either to lazy or I lose it. Organisation has always been one of my weakest points.

Firnoviel- I'm updating after two months again haha, it used to be every two weeks. You're better than me in French, I only know Ciao.

SnowCharms- Aww, but the Tomoyo in anime is too hyper! Well, perhaps I could make her start making clothes again…

Kito-chan- You know what? I used to laugh at CCS medieval fanfics since I dislike stories with princesses, but now, I don't, infact, I read the "Princess Diaries", also, I've given it up after reading the first book. I'm really flattered my medieval is the firs tone you've li ked, it's too bad I don't have a lot of knowledge about the past since this year in History, I'm already on the First World War.

Weary Soulsearcher- Yup, Tomoyo knew him a long time ago, maybe you should reread the scene the conversation Syaoran and Tomoyo had in the Kinomoto garden. Huan ying ni huai lai, gong zi." Means Welcome back, prince. The K-drama I was into was "My Girl", I saw a fanfic of it a few weeks ago, I don't really like Full house cause I totally hate Rain!

I need to rush now and be the wall of some stupid drama competition, see you later, and don't stop reviewing!!!


	10. Telling Stories

Love without Words

Love without Words

By Zilver Wings

Summary: She was the ice princess who was mute. When her family hired a tutor to teach her sign language, they never expected love to blossom. But a princess and a commoner would never work together. However, things change and Syaoran proves to be no ordinary peasant.

Chapter 10

Telling Stories  (Ever heard of this short story? It's in my Eng. Lit. syllabus.)

Knock knock.

Knock knock.

Syaoran pulled the covers over his head tighter, trying to block out the annoying noise.

Knock knock.

Knock knock.

"Arr! What the hell is wrong?" The knocking had been going insistently for ten minutes now.

Knock knock knock.

Syaoran gave up and pulled the covers down. He turned his head sideways to look at the windows. Only a pale streak of light infiltrated into the room through the small gap between the curtains. The sun had just begun to rise. It probably wasn't even six yet. His and his family were used to waking up at eight.

Knock knock.

Grudgingly, he sat up and had a few unsuccessful attempts at trying to locate his slippers with his feet in the dimness before succeeding.

He walked across the spacious room with familiarity, and found the doorknob precisely. Turning it to the left, he opened it and stuck his head out to the hallway.

Because of the lamps that were forever on in the corridors, he could see a person striking the wall repeatedly at the far end of the long corridor in the soft light.

Years of training made him turn on his full alert at the intruder. There was no room except his on this floor, nor were there any soldiers to ensure his privacy.

He padded slowly to the stranger, careful not to make any noise.

"Hey you" The person took no notice of him, and instead, he was the one who took a double take.

"S..Sakura?" Even though she had her side to him, there was no mistaking her auburn hair, which was cascaded down her back instead of in a bun.

He quickly walked behind her, took hold of both her fists, which were rather swollen and red, and yanked them away from the wall. It wasn't until she turned to him, with her eyelids half opened, did he realize he was holding her in some sort of an embrace, and blushed.

"Uhh, gomen." He quickly let go of her and looked away in embarrassment, but she still stared at him, as if in a daze.

Suddenly, he saw her raise her hands and move out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw that she was using sign language.

"You are asking, where is the staircase?"

Sakura nodded her head furiously, and started to test the wall again, which made Syaoran laugh.

"I guess you're in not really awake, probably couldn't sleep because of the jet lag eh? In that case, let me inform you, you are now in the land of a foreign country, the Li kingdom, and right now, you're standing on the grounds of the Li palace."

He saw her eyes begin to clear and she stopped knocking on the wall.

There was an awkward silence between them. And as always, Syaoran was the one responsible to break the ice.

"I think you want to go downstairs, right? It's a bit early, but, want to have some breakfast?" He began to walk after Sakura nodded.

"It's amazing how you walked for such a long distance without hitting anything in your state. I hope your stay until now has been comfortable."

He looked back but Sakura only followed him with a thoughtful expression on her face. She raised her hands, but then dropped them on her sides after some thought. Being tired himself, he made no further attempt to talk as they walked together quietly.

Syaoran stopped abruptly when they reached the ground floor.

"No!" Syaoran hung his head.

He should have known. He had forgotten that all the people except the palace soldiers didn't rise until seven, and it was only five- twenty now.

Except for the crackling of the fire in the fireplace and their soft breathing, the floor was completely, well, deserted.

"Sorry, I forgot that" He stopped in mid-sentence. He began to walk to the kitchen suddenly as something came to him.

If he had remembered correctly, there were supposed to be some overnight pastry in the oven where the chefs left for the maids. He spotted the oven quickly and opened the door, with Sakura tailing after him. And he was right.

He bent down and took out a large baking pan, which was rather heavy. On it were some sugar doughnuts and different pies. He suddenly felt very grateful of his mother's graciousness towards the maids.

Sakura looked at him questioningly, for whatever reason he didn't know.

He picked up a doughnut, and cringed. It was hard and cold.

"Errmm, the pastries are all cold, and I, uh, don't know how to work the oven." He began to put the doughnut back onto the pan when Sakura suddenly took it away from him and put it in her mouth.

He looked at her, perplexed. He was sure the doughnut was stale and certainly not something a princess or even a noble would normally eat. However, Sakura just kept on eating without even a small display of displeasure.

But maybe, it really wasn't as horrid as he had thought.

He took a slice of apple pie uncertainly and took a small bite as Sakura stuffed the last bit into her mouth and watched him. He tried to hold it in but couldn't help but frown. It was not really inedible, but it certainly didn't taste good. Maybe it would taste okay for a peasant, but certainly not for him, who was used to being served hot meals.

Sakura smiled at him, and he felt his face redden considerably, not knowing what to do with the pie.

As if seeing through him, Sakura walked to him and stretched out her palm. It took a second before Syaoran realized what she was doing. He hesitated. Why would she want to eat his apple pie? Was she still dreaming?

Sakura got impatient and grabbed it from him and put it onto the pan.

"What are you doing?" Syaoran looked at her, bemused. She just smiled and eyed some wood at the corner of the kitchen and walked there.

When he saw her walk back, holding a pile of firewood, he finally understood what she was trying to do, and only felt more astonished.

"Tell me you're joking, how can a princess possibly know how to work the oven?"

He saw her grin and bend down in front of the oven and dump the firewood inside a hole before brushing her hands and standing up to tell him.

"You used to watch and help the maids in the kitchen? Unbelievable!"

She nodded and continued with her job.

If so, why did she eat the doughnut in the first place? It dawned to him that she was trying to save his pride.

Syaoran had a newfound admiration towards this girl in front of him. She was really full of wonders. Her wit, companionable silence, talent in drawing, agility in running, and now, this! He always thought such perfect female characters only existed in fairytales.

As if in a trance, he followed her and helped with carrying the firewood.

The sun had rose, and light shone in through the window. It stroke on Sakura, forming a sort of golden glow around her, making her seem even more unreal and mysterious.

After throwing his first helping of firewood into the strange hole, Sakura stopped him and began to open and close the cupboards.

After some time, she managed to find a small box of matches and took one out and lit it. She threw the lighted match into the hole and at once, the firewood flared up, and she closed the small metal door.

Syaoran tried to help by putting the pan inside the oven, but Sakura shook her head and raised three fingers with one hand and made a zero with the other.

"Wait for thirty minutes. Right."

Sakura ignored his statement, and instead, began to think about her earlier question.

When she was younger, she remembered being shown a world map. There were many countries, and the largest three were the Kinomoto, the Yoshiwa and the Li kingdoms. However, despite being a princess of the Kinomoto kingdom, the country that fascinated her most was the Li kingdom, not only because of its enormous size, but mainly of the shape, which was in the interesting form of a wolf's head, with three major lakes which she saw as the eyes and the nose.

She was sure that the Kinomoto kingdom and the Li kingdom were pretty far away from each other, and there was also this sea separating them. How could they arrive within one day, and without ever boarding a ship?

She turned and saw Syaoran gazing at her, so she asked him, and she saw his eyebrows furrow.

"I had hoped that you wouldn't remember." He scratched his head as he gave a nervous laugh and avoided her eyes. He tried to change the topic. He pointed at the oven and asked, "Is it ready?"

Sakura gave him the look, but nodded her head. Syaoran sighed and put the pan inside and closed the oven door.

He knew he had to tell her the truth somehow, but the whole truth? He decided against it. She wouldn't understand, she would probably think his intention of teaching her from the start was to ask for her hand in marriage. He knew, because he had four older sisters. Girls were really oversensitive sometimes.

"Umm, you see, I haven't been telling you all the truth. I'm actually the nephew of Queen Li. That explains why I live here." He waited for Sakura to appear shocked but she just looked expectantly at him. It was then did he know that he must have revealed his identity somehow, and he kicked himself mentally for his carelessness.

"You ever heard of onmyodo?"

To be continued…

Haven't uploaded this story for…a year and a half! I didn't even realize it, time flies, haha. dodges bananas I actually thought of deleting my stories, but I knew I would regret it. So here I am again.

As I have said previously, I'm totally addicted to Taiwanese dramas right now, and haven't been really in the mood to read or write. However, the exams are coming within a month, and I thought continuing this story would be a good way to help brush up my English. Okay, strange reason. I know.

I don't really know when I'll update again, but perhaps within a month or two because I have three months of vacation after the exams. I can't believe I got reviews for my Author's note, I thought everybody had already abandoned this story. XD

Also, I've reread the whole story cause I've forgotten all about it, and I saw a lot of mistakes, so I'll be correcting it later on. If you guys happen to spot any mistakes not related to grammar, please tell me. And many of you have been questioning about my strange language consisting of both Cantonese and Chinese. It is in Cantonese, and yes, I live in Hong Kong, so I know about it, it's just that I got mixed up, sorry for causing all the confusion.

Please R&R, I would really like to see how many of you are still reading this fanfic, your reviews keep me going. Help me get over 300 reviews please! (The exact reason why I've decided to continue this story first.)

Weary Soulsearcher- Sorry, Eriol won't be appearing cause I don't really like the ET pairing. I still don't like Rain cause I really think he looks kind of…gay. (That's the same reason why I gave up 'Coffee Prince') That's just my opinion though.

TamaoumatheStarWarrior- It's been a long time, but it's funny how I'm going to have the exams again, except they are not the finals. I'll read your CCS stories later on.

Little Miss Bubbles- Neopets, illegal?! I would've killed you if I heard you say this a year ago. Haven't been playing now, I finally got bored of it after…6 years?

AnimeLvr- Sign language? That's really cool! But don't really expect me to put in any, since I have no idea about it, but maybe… I change my mind, I think I might use it somewhere in this story, thanks for the inspiration. XD

4trueSamurai- I'm watching "They Kiss Again" too, cause ISWAK was the drama which got me into Taiwan stuff. I'm watching almost all of the dramas which show on Sunday. It's a torture to wait for a week though, lol.

animexanime obsessed- Suggestions? I've only watched about 20 during these 7 months. My favorites include Mars, It started with a kiss, Hanazakarino Kimitachihe, Why Why Love, Bull Fighting, Wish to see you again. Have you seen all of them already?

Light in the Darkness- Thanks for being such a faithful reviewer, and thanks for the blessing. pulls away chair

Firnoviel- Hmm, a summary would be nice, but there's really too much to say, and it's too boring for me. :P Anyway, it's been a long time since I've updated, would you consider re-reading it again just like me?


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